
Class 
Book 






GopightN". 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSrr. 



The Women of Illinois 



By 
HENRY McCORMICK 



BLOOMINGTON, ILLINOIS 

Pantagraph Printing and Stationery Company 

1913 






Copyright 1913 
By HENRY McCORMICK 



©CI.A3J7989 



KJ 



5 



Lo, zvhat gentillesse these ivomen have. 
If we coude knozv it for our rudenesse! 
How busie they be us to keep and save. 
Both in hele, and also in silkenesse! 
And alway right sorrie for our distresse. 
In every manner. 

— Chaucer. 



THE CONTENTS 





Page 


The Pioneer Women of Illinois 


9 


Mrs. Le Compt 


15 


Mrs. John Edgar . - - 


17 


Mrs. Robert Morrison - 


19 


Mrs. Mary A. Bickerdyke 


23 


Mrs. Mary A. Livermore 


39 


Frances E. Willard 


55 


Jane Addams - - - - 


79 


Mrs. Lida Brown McMurry 


103 


Mrs. Letitia Green Stevenson • 


111 


Marie Eugenia Von Eisner [Litta] 


125 


The Women of Today 


143 



The Women of Illinois 



CHAPTER ONE 

THK PIONEER WOMEN 

MUCH has been said, and justly so, in 
praise of the men of Illinois. They 
have played an honorable part in the halls of 
legislation, on the field of battle, in literature, 
in law, and in medicine. Lincoln, Douglas, 
Grant, Logan, Bissell, Palmer, Fuller, Senn, 
Medill, and a host of others whose names can 
not be mentioned here, constitute a list of 
whom any state may justly be proud. And 
it is well to be proud of them. A people who 
are not proud of their great men are not 
worthy of them. It is said that pride goes 
before a fall ; it is just as certain that lack of 
pride leads to the fall of the individual and of 
the state. Sad, indeed, is the fate of the na- 
tion whose people are indifferent to the merits 
of their great men; it is traveling on a road 
that leads to such a state of decadence that 



10 The Women of Illinois 

mediocrity, even, will seem an unattainable 
height. 

There is one class of our people, however, 
to whom neither the essayist nor the historian 
has done justice, the women of Illinois. Yet 
they were well- worthy to walk by the side of 
their fathers, brothers, and husbands. And it 
is nOjiT^re tlj^jjust tlp^pHkiprfact should be 
maciew known to^fjj^ir descemj^its. 

'^t'h^ljiairdy pioneer, wh^^e ^jj^in dependence 
was upon his ax and rifle, fills an important 
chapter in the history of our great state. He 
felled forests, where there were any to be 
felled, built bridges and mills, established 
schools and churches, and waged a persistent 
and successful warfare against wild beasts and 
the still more savage red man. But what of 
his wife who kissed him goodbye in the morn- 
ing as he went to his work, not knowing that 
she would ever see him again alive? Or what 
must have been her feelings when he took his 
grist to the mill twenty or thirty miles away 
and would not return until the next day, if at 
all? Imagine, if you can, her state of mind 
as the wolves were howling around the cabin 
at night and the children were crying for 
bread, it might be, while she feared that every 
noise which she did not understand might be 



The Pioneer Women ^1 

due to the stealthy approach of the Indians. 
How glad she was when daylight came, and 
how often she looked down the trail to see if 
her natural protector was in sight; and when 
he arrived, with what rapture did they greet 
each other. 

The home was a humble one, consisting 
usually of one room with a loft, and a hole un- 
der the middle of the room for a cellar. The 
floor was of puncheons, or very rough boards. 
There was no carpet on the floor, no pictures 
on the walls, and the furniture, in most part, 
was made by means of the ax and auger. 

In this unpretentious home she cared for 
her family without any assistance from 
mothers' clubs, child-study clubs, or kinder- 
gartners. She had to get along without many 
of the conveniences which modern housekeep- 
ers regard as indispensable. She had no stove, 
gas range, or fireless cooker, but had to do her 
cooking over the open fireplace, often without 
a ''crane," and her baking in the "Dutch 
oven," if she was fortunate enough to have 
one. 

She had no Ivory or Pears' soap, but had to 
leach the ashes and make her own soap, as she 
did her starch. She had no washing-machine 
or clothes-wringer, no vacuum cleaner or car- 



12 The Women of Illinois 

pet sweeper, no fly screens, no yeast cakes, no 
baking powder, and no canned fruit. 

In addition to being the housekeeper, she 
w^as also the manufacturer for the household. 
She spun the wool, dyed the yarn, wove it, 
fulled the cloth, and made it into garments for 
the family. She scutched the flax, hatcheled 
it, spun it and wove it into wearing apparel and 
bed linen, and later into table linen. 

To her many other duties the pioneer 
woman added that of physician. It was well 
that she did so, for regular doctors were few 
in those days and sometimes difficult to reach, 
especially for the isolated pioneer families. 
And were it not for the beneficent ministra- 
tions of the wife and mother the diseases 
peculiar to the new country would have caused 
even more suffering than they did. Her sup- 
ply of calomel and quinine was limited, it is 
true, but the woods were her dispensary and 
they furnished a bountiful supply of sage, 
sassafras, catnip, liverwort, tansy, lobelia, 
boneset, etc. If the malady did not yield to 
any, or all of these remedies, the corn-sweat 
was resorted to, and if this did not prove effi- 
cacious, the patient's friends regarded his re- 
covery as hopeless. 

To us it may seem wonderful that the pa- 



The Pioneer Women 13 

tient could live through such a course of treat- 
ment, for we should be inclined to think that 
to be compelled to drink a decoction made 
from any of these weeds was enough to make 
a healthy person sick instead of making well 
a sick person. Nevertheless many did get well, 
many were saved from having a long spell of 
sickness by taking their mother's remedies as 
a preventive, and many, perhaps, were kept 
well by the dread of having to submit to the 
treatment if they became sick. So that on 
the whole the good housewife was encouraged 
to add to her pharmacopoeia whenever she 
heard of a cure wrought by some remedy that 
she did not have in stock. 



CHAPTER TWO 

MRS. LE COMPT 

MANY of the women of early Illinois, be- 
sides being excellent housekeepers and 
physicians extraordinary, were watchful stu- 
dents of affairs, especially of the relations 
of the whites and Indians, and their ef- 
forts were always directed towards making 
those relations more peaceful, more humane. 
The most prominent of those peace-making 
women was Mrs. LeCompt, who may justly be 
termed the "Frontier Angel." 

Mrs. LeCompt was born of French parents, 
near what is now the town of St. Joseph, in 
Michigan. Her girlhood was spent among the 
Pottawattomie Indians. She moved to Mack- 
inaw where she was married, and then with 
her husband moved to Chicago, and later to 
Cahokia. All through life she had the Indians 
for neighbors. She learned the dialects of 
many of the tribes, and so was able to gain 
an insight into their character and acquire an 
influence over them, which several times saved 



16 The Women of Illinois 

the feeble French settlements from destruc- 
tion. 

When George Rogers Clark conquered the 
Illinois country from the English, the French 
inhabitants sided with the Americans and 
aided them to the best of their ability. This 
angered the English, and they incited the In- 
dians to attack their former friends. Many a 
meditated attack upon Cahokia were frustrated 
by Mrs. LeCompt. So great was the friend- 
ship of the Indians for her that they could not 
bear to have her in the village when it should 
be attacked, for fear she would be injured, 
and so informed her of the time of the in- 
tended onslaught. On such occasions she 
would go alone to the camp of the hostiles, 
and plead with them to refrain from carrying 
out their evil intentions. At times she would 
remain among them for days pleading for the 
sparing of her village, and counseling peace; 
and her efforts were always successful. It 
was no uncommon sight on such occasions to 
see this remarkable woman leading a band of 
warriors to the village, changed from foes to 
friends, with their faces painted black to in- 
dicate their sorrow for ever having intended 
to massacre their dear friends. 

Mrs. LeCompt was married three times, re- 



Mrs. John Edgar 17 

tained the name of her second husband, and 
died at Cahokia in 1843, ^.t the ripe age of 
109 years. 

MRS. JOHN EDGAR 

It would be a mistake to suppose that the 
women of early Illinois, although good house- 
keepers and brave in facing the trying circum- 
stances by which they were often surrounded, 
were rude in manners and lacking in the cul- 
ture and refinement which are usually found 
in older communities. This was true, no doubt, 
of the majority but not of all. In the last 
decade of the i8th century Kaskaskia was the 
home of many people of refined and polished 
manners. Among these was Mrs. John Ed- 
gar, who presided with dignity and grace over 
her husband's splendid mansion, the abode of 
hospitality and a resort of the elite for nearly 
half a century. '*It was in the spacious and 
elegantly furnished rooms of this house that 
LaFayette, on his visit to Illinois in 1825, was 
sumptuously entertained by a banquet and 
ball."i 

Mrs. Edgar was famous not only as a social 
leader, but her name merits high praise as a 
Revolutionary heroine as well. By birth, edu- 

^Davidson and Stuve: History of Illinois, page 229. 



18 The Women of Illinois 

cation and sympathy she was American, but 
her husband was an officer in the British navy, 
fighting against the colonies in their struggle 
for liberty. By her gracious manner, shrewd- 
ness, and patriotic devotion to her country, she 
won over her husband to the American cause, 
being aided, possibly, by his disgust at the 
conduct of the British in inciting the Indians 
to massacre white women and children. Not 
only so but she was the projector of many 
plans by which soldiers in the British army 
were induced to desert and join the ranks of 
the patriots. She had upon one occasion ar- 
ranged a plan for the escape of three soldiers 
and was to furnish them with guns, American 
uniforms, and all needed information to 
enable them to reach the patriot camp. When 
they came she was absent from home, but her 
husband, a confidant of all her operations, 
notwithstanding his position in the enemy's 
navy, supplied them with the outfit prepared 
by his wife. But the deserters were caught, 
returned to the British camp, and compelled 
to divulge the names of their abettors. Mr. 
Edgar was arrested and sent in irons to Que- 
bec. He managed to escape and joined the 
American army, where he gained the friend- 
ship of Lafayette and other leading officers. 



Mrs. Robert Morrison 19 

Deeming it safer for his life to seek greater 
seclusion, he came to Kaskaskia. His prop- 
erty at Detroit was confiscated; but the rare 
sagacity of his patriotic and devoted wife, who 
remained in that city, enabled her to save 
$12,000 from the wreck; with this she joined 
her husband in his western home. 

The Edgars were for many years the 
wealthiest family in Illinois. This wealth was 
secured by the making and sale of salt, the 
making of flour, and fortunate speculations in 
land. Mr. Edgar was chief justice of Illinois, 
under the Northwest Territory in 1790, and 
later became a general in the militia. These 
positions gave the family a high social stand- 
ing, which the accomplished wife, with the 
great wealth at her command, was well quali- 
fied to maintain. 

MRS. ROBERT MORRISON 

Another talented woman of the early days 
was Mrs. Robert Morrison, whose maiden 
name was Donaldson. She was a native of 
Baltimore and a member of one of the wealth- 
iest and most aristocratic families of that 
city. She received an excellent education, be- 
ing what Reynolds in his Pioneer History 
is pleased to term ''a finished and classic 



20 The Women of Illinois 

scholar."^ The same author tells us that she 
possessed a strong, original and sprightly mind, 
and that she was endowed with strong per- 
ceptions and much originality of thought. 

Miss Donaldson's somewhat romantic dis- 
position and a desire to know more of the 
West led her to accompany her brother, in 
1805, on one of his business trips to St. Louis. 
It is fair to suppose that a young woman of 
such graces of mind and body would soon 
have many admirers among the susceptible 
young men of the West. Hence we are not 
surprised to learn that she was married the 
next year to Robert Morrison, a rich trader 
of Kaskaskia. 

Mrs. Morrison possessed great energy and 
activity of mind. Reynolds, already quoted, 
states that ''Her delight and home were in the 
rosy field of poetry." Be that as it may, it is 
certain that some of her poems were decided 
by competent critics to be far above medium. 
Her most ambitious literary undertaking was 
the remodeling of the Psalms of David. This 
work she presented to the officials of the Pres- 
byterian church of Philadelphia to be used in 
the public services in place of the version then 
used. After a critical examination the min- 



'Reynolds : Pioneer History, page 165. 



Mrs. Robert Morrison 21 

isters refused to make the change, their re- 
fusal being based on the fact that the new 
version, although quite meritorious, was the 
work of an unknown individual. 

Mrs. Morrison's pen was never idle. She 
wrote many articles, both prose and poetry, 
for one of the leading magazines of Phila- 
delphia, and was a welcomed contributor to 
several local and Eastern newspapers. 

The field of politics was not unknown to 
her. She explored it so thoroughly that she 
was able to write intelligently not only upon 
the political questions of the day, but also on 
the fundamental principles upon which the 
science of politics rests. 

Mr. Morrison was a man of wealth, and 
being socially inclined and very proud of his 
wife, encouraged her to entertain quite freely. 
And so the Morrison mansion extended its 
hospitality to all eminent strangers who visited 
that part of the country, as well as to the local 
celebrities. It was especially the center at 
which gathered the literati of the immediate 
valley of the Mississippi. 

The subject of our sketch entered thor- 
oughly into an investigation of the various re- 
ligious systems. As a result she became a 
Presbyterian; but on further investigation and 



22 



The Women of Illinois 



reflection she entered the Catholic church. 
Believing that that was the only church and 
that out of it there was no salvation, she de- 
voted her powers to the making of converts to 
that faith. And through her energy, example, 
and influence, nearly all who belonged in her 
social circle became Catholics. She died at 
Belleville in 1843. 



CHAPTER THREE 

MRS. MARY A. BICKE:rDYKE 

pERHAPS the reason why woman occu- 
'■' pies so small a space in the history of 
the State is because her efforts have been al- 
ways for peace, and peace is too modest to 
blazon forth its own merits. The husbands 
and brothers go forth to battle cheered by the 
multitude and inspired by the rolling drum 
and the braying trumpet; the wives and sis- 
ters work in quiet and escape the notice of the 
thoughtless crowd. The soldier goes forth to 
destroy life, his sister labors to preserve it, 
and destruction arrests attention more readily 
than does preservation. One brings sorrow 
and suffering into the homes of the land, the 
other tries to alleviate sorrow and pour the oil 
of consolation into the wounded hearts. 

The Civil War gave woman a great oppor- 
tunity for her merciful ministrations, and she 
rose grandly to the occasion. Heroically she 
followed in the wake of the destroying soldier 
and bound up the wounds which he had made. 
Patiently she nursed back to strength the form 



24 The Women of Illinois 

wasted by disease, and reverently she knelt by 
the dying and spoke words of comfort that 
quieted and soothed the perturbed spirit about 
to depart from earth. 

Of the many noble women of Illinois who 
served as nurses during the fratricidal strug- 
gle, no one rendered greater service to the 
soldier than did ''Mother Bickerdyke." 

Mrs. Mary A. Bickerdyke was living in 
Galesburg when the war broke out. She was 
forty-four years old, and had considerable ex- 
perience as a nurse. ''Her well-known skill as 
a nurse, the fertility of her resources, her 
burning patriotism, and her possession of that 
rare combination of qualities which we call 
'common sense,' had always enabled her to 
face any emergency. At the suggestion of the 
ladies of Galesburg, who wanted to do some- 
thing for the country, Mrs. Bickerdyke went 
to Cairo in 1861, where in that first year of 
the war there was little order, system, or dis- 
cipline." 

Many of the soldiers were sick owing to the 
change of water, the change of climate, and 
the change in their manner of living. The 
loyal people of Cairo aided her in her unpaid 
labors, hired a room for her, which she turned 
into a sick-diet kitchen, in which she prepared 



Mrs. Mary A. Bickerdyke 25 

suitable food for the sick from articles sent 
to her by the Chicago Sanitary Commission. 

After the battle of Fort Donelson, Mother 
Bickerdyke went from Cairo in the first hos- 
pital boat, and assisted in the removal of the 
wounded to Cairo, St. Louis, and Louisville. 
The hospital boats at that time were poorly 
equipped for transporting the wounded. But 
this thoughtful woman, who made five trips 
from the battle field to the hospital, put on 
board the boat with which she was connected, 
before it started from Cairo, an abundance of 
necessaries. She was able to do this because 
the loyal women of Illinois, through their 
Sanitary Commission, were keeping her sup- 
plied with what experience was showing was 
most helpful to the soldiers. A volunteer sur- 
geon, who was with her on the boat, declared, 
''1 never saw anybody like her. There was 
really nothing for us surgeons to do but dress 
wounds and administer medicine. She drew 
out clean shirts or drawers from some corner 
whenever they were needed. Nourishment 
was ready for every man as soon as he was 
brought on board. Every one was sponged 
from blood and the frozen mire of the battle- 
field, as far as his condition allowed. His 
blood-stiffened, and sometimes horribly filthy 



26 The Women of Illinois 

uniform, was exchanged for soft and clean 
hospital garments. Incessant cries of Mother ! 
Mother! Mother! rang through the boat, in 
every note of beseeching anguish. And to 
every man she turned with a heavenly tender- 
ness, as if he were indeed, her son. She 
moved about with a decisive air, and gave di- 
rections in such a positive manner as to 
ensure prompt obedience. We all had an im- 
pression that she held a commission from the 
Secretary of War, or at least, from the Gov- 
ernor of Illinois." 

As a matter of fact she held no official 
position, whatever, at this time, and received 
no compensation for her services. Later she 
was taken into the service of the United 
States, and received the munificent wages of 
thirteen dollars a month. 

When she entered upon her labors as a nurse 
she adopted all soldiers as her children, and 
faithfully and fondly, even, did she mother 
them. Not only did she care for them ten- 
derly in the hospital ; but after a battle she 
was often seen on the battle field, with her 
lantern, in the stillness of the night, groping 
among the dead and turning their cold faces 
towards her light, uneasy lest some wounded 
soldier might have been left uncared for. 



Mrs. Mary A. Bickerdyke 27 

The Chicago Sanitary Commission had un- 
limited confidence in the wisdom, integrity and 
efficiency of Mrs. Bickerdyke and kept her 
well supplied with such stores as were needed 
by the sick and wounded. Three days after 
the battle of Shiloh, the boats of the Sanitary 
Commission arrived at Pittsburg Landing 
laden with condensed food, stimulants, cloth- 
ing, bedding, medicines, chloroform, surgical 
instruments, and carefully selected volunteer 
nurses and surgeons. Here Mother Bicker- 
dyke was found carrying system, order, and 
relief wherever she went. One of the sur- 
geons went to the rear with a wounded man, 
and found her wra^ed in the gray overcoat 
of a Confederate officer, for she had given her 
blanket shawl to some poor fellow who needed 
it. She was wearing a soft slouched hat, hav- 
ing lost her inevitable shaker bonnet. Her 
kettles had been set up, the fires kindled un- 
derneath, and she was dispensing hot soup, 
tea, crackers, whiskey and water and other re- 
freshments to the shivering, fainting, and 
wounded men. 

''Where did you get these articles?" the 
surgeon inquired, "and under whose authority 
are you at work?" She paid no attention to 
his questions, indeed, it is doubtful if she 



28 The Women of Illinois 

heard them, so absorbed was she in her work 
of mercy. Watching her with admiration for 
her skill and intelligence, for she not only fed 
the wounded men, but temporarily dressed 
their wounds in some cases, he addressed her 
again : 

''Madam, you seem to combine in yourself 
a sick-diet kitchen and a medical staff. May 
I inquire under whose authority you are 
working ?" 

Without pausing in her work, she answered 
him, "I have received my authority from the 
Lord God Almighty; have you anything that 
ranks higher than that?" Believing thus, it 
may easily be inferred that she paid but slight 
attention to red tape, even to army red tape, 
which is the reddest of all red tape. 

While at her work of mercy, she had sev- 
eral set-tos with army surgeons. One of these 
spats is related by Mrs. Mary Livermore, 
Mrs. Bickerdyke's biographer, and who was 
present at the time it occurred. 

*'I was in her hospital about noon," says 
Mrs. Livermore, "when the ward-master of 
the fourth story came to the kitchen, to tell 
her that the surgeon of that ward had not 
made his appearance, the special diet list for 



Mrs. Mary A. Bickerdyke 



29 



the ward had not yet been made out, and the 
men were suffering for their breakfasts. 

'' 'Haven't had their breakfasts ! Why didn't 
you tell me of this sooner? Here, stop! The 
poor fellows must be fed immediately.' And 
filling enormous tin pails and trays with cof- 
fee, soup, gruel, toast, and other like 
food, she sent half a dozen men ahead with 
them. Extending to me a six-gallon pail of 
hot soup, she bade me follow her, being 
freighted herself with a pail of similar size in 
each hand. I stood looking on at the distribu- 
tion, when her clarion voice rang out to me in 
tones of authority: 'Come, make yourself 
alive, Mary Livermore ! Try to be useful ! 
Help these men !' I never knew anyone who 
deliberately disregarded her orders^ — I had no 
thought but to obey — and so I sat down to 
feed a man who was too weak to help himself. 

''While we were all busy, the surgeon of 
the ward came in, looking as if he had just 
risen from sleeping off a night's debauch. In- 
stantly there was a change in the tones of 
Mother Bickerdyke's voice, and in the expres- 
sion of her face. She was no longer a tender, 
pitying, sympathizing mother, but Alecto her- 
self. 

" 'You miserable, drunken, heartless scala- 



30 The Women of Illinois 

wag!' shaking her finger and head at him, 
threateningly, 'what do you mean by leaving 
these fainting, suffering men to go until now 
with nothing to eat, and no attention? Not a 
word, sir!' as he undertook to make an ex- 
planation. 'Oft* with your shoulder-straps, 
and get out of this hospital! I'll have them 
off in three days ;' and she was as good as 
her word. He was dismissed from the ser- 
vice. He went to General Sherman and de- 
clared he had been dismissed on false charges. 
'Who made the charges?' asked the general. 
'Why — why — I suppose,' said the surgeon, 'it 
was that spiteful old woman, Mrs. Bicker- 
dyke. 'Oh, well, then,' said Sherman, 'if it 
was she, I can't help you. She has more 
power than I — she ranks me.' And that closed 
the matter." 

An incident that took place while she was 
in charge of the Gayoso hospital in Memphis 
will show the resourcefulness of the woman. 
She had great difficulty in obtaining eggs and 
milk for the sick and wounded. These could 
not be sent from the North, and the small 
quantity of each that could be bought in the 
city and vicinity was inadequate and of poor 
quality. 

Approaching the medical director in charge 



Mrs. Mary A. Bickerdyke 31 

of the hospital, she accosted him one day with, 
''Doctor, do you know we are paying these 
Memphis secesh fifty cents for every quart of 
milk we use ? And do you know it's such poor 
stuff — two-thirds chalk and water — that if you 
should pour it in the trough of a respectable 
pig at home, he would turn up his nose, and 
run off, squealing in disgust?" 

**Well, what can we do about it?" asked the 
doctor. 

"If you'll give me a thirty days' furlough 
and transportation, I'll go home, and get all 
the milk and eggs that the Memphis hospitals 
can use." 

"Get milk and eggs! Why, you could not 
bring them down here, if the North would 
give you all it has. A barrel of eggs would 
spoil this warm weather before it could reach 
us ; and how on earth could you bring milk ?" 

"But I'll bring down the milk and tgg pro- 
ducers. I'll get cows and hens, and we'll have 
milk and eggs of our own. The folks at 
home, doctor, will give us all the hens and 
cows we need for the use of these hospitals, 
and jump at the chance to do it. You needn't 
laugh, nor shake your head!" as he turned 
away, amused and incredulous. 

"I tell you," she insisted, "the people at the 



32 The Women of Illinois 

North ache to do something for the boys 
down here, and I can get fifty cows in Illinois 
for just the asking." 

'Tshaw! pshaw!" said the doctor, ''you 
would be laughed at from one end of the 
country to the other, if you should go on so 
wild an errand." 

"Fiddlesticks! Who cares for that? Give 
me a furlough and transportation, and let me 
try it." 

So she came North and secured the cows 
with little difficulty. A few farmers in the 
central part of the State gave her a hundred 
without delay. They were sent to Springfield, 
whence Governor Yates had promised they 
should be shipped to Memphis, in herds of 
fifteen or twenty, with someone in charge of 
each herd to take care of the animals. And 
"Dick Yates, the soldiers' friend," kept his 
promise. 

The hens, of which she received a large 
number, were sent to the rooms of the Sani- 
tary Commission in Chicago: In less than a 
week the rooms were transformed into a large 
hennery. And the crowing, cackling, and 
quarreling were so incessant that the office 
force was glad to hasten the departure of their 
feathered guests. They were dispatched to 



Mrs. Mary A. Bickerdyke 



33 



Memphis in four shipments, in coops contain- 
ing about two dozens each. 

Before her thirty days' leave of absence was 
ended, Mother Bickerdyke was on her way 
back, at the head of a unique procession of 
one hundred cows and a thousand hens, strung 
all along the route from Chicago to Memphis. 
She entered that city in triumph, amid great 
lowing, crowing and cackling, and informed 
the astonished Memphians that, ''These are 
loyal cows and hens; none of your miserable 
trash that give chalk and water for milk, and 
lay loud-smelling eggs." 

General Hurlburt, who was at the head of 
the department, hearing of this novel immi- 
gration within his lines, gave up to the noisy 
new-comers President's Island, lying in the 
Mississippi, opposite the city, and detailed a 
number of "contrabands" to take care of them. 
And as long as Mrs. Bickerdyke remained in 
Memphis there was an abundance of milk and 
eggs for the use of the hospitals. 

General Sherman was Mother Bickerdyke's 
beau ideal. He was her great man and great 
soldier. She would always defend General 
Grant like a tigress if he were assailed; but 
it was clear to everyone that General Sherman 
was the special object of her idolatry. She 



34 The Women of Illinois 

rated him higher than Grant, higher than Lin- 
coln, and altogether superior as a soldier to 
Washington or Wellington. 

General Sherman, on his side, fully ap- 
preciated Mother Bickerdyke; and when he 
was curt and repellant tO' all agents, nurses, 
and employes of the Sanitary, Christian and 
State Commissions, she had free admittance 
to his headquarters, and usually obtained any 
favors she chose to ask. There was something 
in her character akin to his own. Both were 
restless, impetuous, fiery, hard-working and 
indomitable, yet she confessed frankly that he 
sometimes tried her patience. 

One of these occasions was when he was 
preparing for his Atlanta campaign. He had 
issued an order absolutely forbidding agents 
in charge of sanitary stores, or agents of any 
description to go over the road from Nash- 
ville to Chattanooga. He alleged as the rea- 
son for this prohibition that he wished the 
entire ability of the railroad devoted to strictly 
military operations. There was great distress 
in the hospitals south of Nashville, and that 
city was full of sanitary stores and agents who 
were anxious to minister to the needs of the 
sick and wounded, but were debarred from 
doing so by this order. Mother Bickerdyke 



Mrs. Mary A. Bickerdyke 35 

knowing the crying needs of the boys, deter- 
mined to beard the lion in his den in spite of 
the advice and remonstrance of her friends, 
as General Sherman was not a man to be 
trifled with. But go she would and did, and 
made her appearance unexpectedly at head- 
quarters in Chattanooga. 

''Halloo! Why, how did you get down 
here?" asked one of the general's staff officers, 
as he saw her enter Sherman's headquarters. 

"Came down in the cars, of course. There's 
no other way of getting here that I know of," 
replied the matter-of-fact woman. "I want 
to see General Sherman." 

"He is in there writing," said the officer, 
pointing to an inner room; ''but I guess he 
won't see you." 

"Guess he will!" Good morning. General! 
I want to speak to you a moment. May I 
come in?" 

"I should think you had got in!" answered 
the general, barely looking up, in great annoy- 
ance. "What's up now?" 

"Why, General," said the earnest matron, 
in a perfect torrent of words, "we can't stand 
this last order of yours nohow. You'll have 
to change it, as sure as you live. We can get 
along without any more nurses and agents, 



36 The Women of Illinois 

but the supplies we must have. The sick and 
wounded men need them, and you'll have to 
give permission to bring them down." 

''Well, I am busy today, and cannot attend 
to you. I will see you some other time." But 
though Sherman kept on writing, and did not 
look up, Mrs. Bickerdyke saw a smile lurking 
in the corner of his mouth, and knew she 
would carry her point; so she persisted. 

''No, General! don't send me away until 
you've fixed this thing as it ought to be fixed. 
You had me assigned to your corps, and told 
me that you expected me to look after the 
nursing of the men who needed it. But I 
should like to know how I can do this if I 
don't have anything to do with? Have some 
sense about it now. General." 

There was a hearty laugh at this, and a lit- 
tle badinage ensued, which Mother Bicker- 
dyke ended in her brusque way, "Well, I can't 
stand here fooling all day. Now, General, 
write an order for two cars a day to be sent 
down from the sanitary supplies at Nashville, 
and I'll be satisfied." The order was written, 
and for weeks all the sanitary stores sent from 
Nashville to Chattanooga, and the posts along 
the road, were sent directly or indirectly 
through the mediation of this noble woman. 



Mrs. Mary A. Bickerdyke 37 

It is to be regretted that the story of Mrs. 
Bickerdyke must be closed at this point. Only 
a few of the more important events in her 
career have been touched upon, and they 
rather lightly. None but the recording angel 
and herself know the importance of the work 
she did during the Civil War ; and it is doubt- 
ful if she knows it, as she was too busy doing 
good to the bodies and souls of her boys in 
blue to keep a record of her own deeds. 



CHAPTER FOUR 

MRS. MARY A. LIVERMORE 

MARY A. LIVERMORE was born in 
Boston, December, 1821. After com- 
pleting her school education she taught for 
some time in the Charleston Female Seminary, 
and later was governess on a Virginia planta- 
tion for two years. 

At the breaking out of the Civil War, she 
and her husband were residents of Chicago. 
Mr. Livermore was pastor of a prominent 
church and editor of "The New Covenant," a 
religio-literary newspaper. Or, perhaps it 
w^ould be more proper to say that he and his 
wife were joint editors, as she wrote articles 
for every issue of the paper, even during the 
war when she was so busily engaged in mak- 
ing the lot of the sick and wounded soldiers a 
little less wretched than it otherwise would 
have been. 

It was natural that Mrs. Livermore should 
be a loyal supporter of the Union and an un- 
faltering friend of those who fought to pre- 
serve it. Her father, himself the son of a 



40 The Women of Illinois 

Revolutionary soldier, fought bravely through 
the War of 1812. 

At the breaking out of the Civil War, the 
daughter was called to Boston, as her father 
was supposed to be dying. When the news 
of the fall of Fort Sumter reached him, he 
turned his face to the wall, and cried in an- 
guish: "My God! now let me die, for I can 
not survive the ruin of my country!" But 
when President Lincoln's call for troops, and 
the hearty response with which it was greeted 
were read to him his health began to improve, 
and he lived to hear the glad tidings of Lee's 
surrender to Grant at Appomattox Court 
House. 

On seeing a marked improvement in her 
father's health, Mrs. Livermore returned to 
Chicago where she found patriotism at a white 
heat. Boston at this crucial moment was 
grand, Chicago was overwhelming. Boston 
had its Faneuil Hall to re-awaken glorious 
memories, Chicago had its ''Wigwam," now 
re-baptized and named National Hall and con- 
secrated, not to party but to patriotism. And 
on the evening of the day that Fort Sumter 
surrendered, the great hall was packed with 
men and women who came to consecrate them- 
selves to the cause of their country, and eight 



Mrs. Mary A. Livermore 41 

days after the lowering of the flag in Charles- 
ton harbor, a force of Chicago volunteers were 
on their way to Cairo. 

"The great uprising among men, who ig- 
nored party and politics, and forgot sect and 
trade, in the fervor of their quickened love of 
country, was paralleled by a similar uprising 
among women. The patriotic speech and 
song, which fired the blood of men, and led 
them to enter the lists as soldiers, nourished 
the self-sacrifice of women, and stimulated 
them to the collection of hospital supplies, and 
to brave the horrors and hardships of hospital 
life. 

"li men responded to the call of country 
when it demanded soldiers by the hundred 
thousand, women planned money-making en- 
terprises, whose vastness of conception and 
good business management, yielded millions 
of dollars to be expended in the interest of 
sick and wounded soldiers. If men faltered 
not, and went gayly to death, that the United 
States might remain intact and undivided, wo- 
men strengthened them by accepting the policy 
of the government uncomplainingly. When 
the telegraph recorded for the country *de- 
feat' instead of Victory,' and for their be- 
loved, 'death' instead of 'life,' women contin- 



42 The Women of Illinois 

lied to give the government their faith, and 
patiently worked and waited."^ 

Many women, however, could not wait pa- 
tiently, but enlisted and fought bravely in the 
ranks. Most of these disguised themselves in 
men's clothing, and their sex was revealed only 
by accident or casualty. Others without any 
disguise, joined the commands in which their 
husbands served, and in the hour of battle 
their courage was equal to that of their male 
companions. 

The most notable instance of this latter class 
was Madame Turchin, wife of the colonel of 
the 19th Illinois regiment. This lady was the 
daughter of a Russian officer, and was born 
and reared in foreign camps. She followed 
the fortunes of her husband in the Civil War, 
and accompanied him to the field. She was 
intensely loyal to the Union, and thoroughly 
American in her sympathies and interests. She 
was as popular with the men of her husband's 
regiment as she had been with the Russian sol- 
diers commanded by her father. They went 
to her with their troubles, and she received 
them with kindness, a good deal of playful 
badinage, and very careful nursing when it 
was needed. 



^My Story of the Civil War : Mary A. Livermore. 



Mrs. Mary A. Livermore 43 

In the spring of 1862, when the 19th was 
actively engaged in Tennessee, Colonel Tur- 
chin was taken seriously ill, and was carried 
for days in an ambulance. His wife not only 
nursed him most tenderly, but took his place 
at the head of the regiment, and the men in 
the ranks as well as the subordinate officers 
yielded her implicit obedience, as they could 
see that she was equal to her husband in cour- 
age and military skill. Utterly devoid of fear, 
and manifesting perfect indifference to shot or 
shell, or minnie-balls, even w^hen they fell 
thickly around her, she led the troops into ac- 
tion, facing the hottest fire, and fought bravely 
at their head. When her husband was able to 
resume his command, she gave herself again 
to the care of the sick and wounded, in the 
field hospital. 

But while w^e must admire the bravery and 
patriotism of the women who risked their lives 
on the field of battle, we cannot believe that 
they rendered the noblest service to the coun- 
try during those four terrible years of fratri- 
cidal war. It is nobler to heal wounds than it 
is to make them ; more godlike to kindle hope 
in the hopeless, to nourish the wan and feeble, 
and restore them to health and vigor; and this 
is the blessed work to which the great body 



44 The Women of Illinois 

of American women devoted themselves dur- 
ing the war. And it is no exaggeration to say 
that no one played a more important part in 
this work of salvation than did Mary A. Liv- 
ermore. 

When the war broke out the government 
was poorly prepared for it. The leaders of 
public opinion in the south had been planning 
secession for years, consequently that section 
was better prepared for the war than were the 
people of the north, who did not believe until 
Sumter was fired upon, that there would be a 
war. So, when the crisis came and the gov- 
ernment rushed men into the field, man}^ were 
without uniforms, some were without arms, 
and the commissary department was demor- 
alized. The soldiers were actually suffering 
for food in a land of plenty. The change from 
the variety of wholesome food to which they 
were accustomed to the fat pork, hard-tack, 
and muddy coffee was so great and sudden 
that many became sick and went to the hos- 
pitals, or what was meant for hospitals, for 
hospitals in the modern sense of the term did 
not exist at the breaking out of the war. The 
sick had the same kind of food as the well. 
There were few nurses, and many of the sur- 



Mrs. Mary A. Livermore 45 

geons were deficient in skill and lax in the dis- 
charge of their duties. 

The patriotic women of the North, learning 
of the sad plight of their husbands, sons, and 
fathers, organized themselves into "Soldiers' 
Relief Societies," for the purpose of providing 
the soldiers from their respective neighbor- 
hoods with home comforts when well, and 
with hospital supplies and nurses when 
wounded or sick. The purpose of these socie- 
ties was commendable and their zeal was great, 
but in many instances it was zeal without 
knowledge. Canned fruits and jars of jam 
and marmalade Were sometimes packed with 
clothing, books and stationery, photographs 
and comfort bags. Baggage cars were soon 
flooded with fermenting sweetmeats, and bro- 
ken pots of jelly, decaying fruit, and pastry 
and cake in a demoralized condition, and many 
of the packages were lost en route. 

It was this disheartening condition that led 
to the organization of the Sanitary Commis- 
sion. The country was divided into depart- 
ments, and at the head of each were capable 
men and women who devoted gratuitously 
their entire time to the work. The department 
of the Northwest had for its receiving and dis- 
tributing point the city of Chicago ; and at its 



46 The Women of Illinois 

head were Mrs. Livermore and Mrs. Hoge, 
ably assisted by two or three of the most prom- 
inent men of the city. Rooms wxre obtained 
and able assistants engaged. Into these rooms 
poured the freewill offering of the Northwest. 
Every box and package were opened, the con- 
tents assorted and repacked, so that each con- 
tained but one line of goods. 

Here were packed and shipped to the battle- 
fields or hospitals 77,660 packages of sanitary 
supplies. Every box received at headquarters, 
and sometimes every article had notes fastened 
to them. Where the notes were sealed, the 
seals were never broken, so their contents were 
known only to the sender and receiver. But 
many of the notes were unsealed, and some of 
those were read. Mrs. Livermore in her book, 
"My Story of the Civil War," gives a few of 
those, four of which I have copied. In a pair 
of socks was found this: 

''My Dear Boy,— I have knit these socks 
expressly for you. How do you like them? 
How do you look, and where do you live when 
you are at home? I am nineteen years old, of 
medium height, of slight build, with blue eyes, 
fair complexion, light hair, and a good deal 
of it. Write and tell me all about yourself. 



Mrs. Mary A. Livermore 47 

and how you get on in the hospital. Direct 

to 

P. S. — If the recipient of these socks has a 
wife, will he please exchange socks with some 
poor fellow not so fortunate. 

A nicely made dressing gown, large enough 
to fit Falstaff, had one huge pocket filled with 
hickory nuts and the other with gingersnaps, 
and both sewed to prevent the contents from 
dropping out. On this Was the following 
note : 

"My Dear Fellow, — Just take your ease in 
this dressing gown. Don't mope and have the 
blues, if you are sick. Moping never cured 
anybody yet. Eat your nuts and cakes, if you 
are well enough, and snap your fingers at dull 
care. I wish I could do more for you, and if 
I were a man I would come and fight with you. 
Woman though I am, I'd like to help hang 
Jeff Davis higher than Haman — yes, and all 
who aid and abet him, too, whether North or 
South." 

In one box was found a bushel of cookies, 
tied in a pillow-case, on which was fastened 
this brief note : 

"These cookies are expressly for the sick 



48 The Women of Illinois 

soldiers, and if anybody else eats them, / hope 
they will choke him.'' 

One more note so as to give a variety. On 
a neatly arranged package of second-hand 
clothing, but little worn, was found this ex- 
planation : 

''The accompanying articles were worn for 
the last time by one very dear to the writer, 
who lost his life at Shiloh. They are sent to 
our wounded soldiers as the most fitting dis- 
position that can be made of them, by one who 
has laid the husband of her youth — her all — 
on the altar of her country." 

Not only were the women interested in pro- 
viding supplies for the sick and wounded sol- 
diers, but even the children became enthusiastic 
in the work. In nearly every city of the 
Northwest fairs and festivals were held by the 
younger people, who collected considerable 
sums of money by this means, as well as by 
the sale of articles made by themselves. Be- 
sides the sums which they contributed collect- 
ively, individual boys and girls gave their 
scanty hoardings with glad hearts. One little 
fellow who often thrust his dirty face into 
headquarters and startled the inmates with the 
shrill cry of "Matches! Matches!" walked up 
to Mrs. Livermore's desk one day, and handed 



Mrs. Mary A. Livermore 49 

her fifty cents all in five-cent currency, saying 
'Til give yer suthin for them are sick fellers!" 
She hesitated about taking it, saying, "No, 
my boy ; don't give it. I am afraid you cannot 
afford it. You're a noble little fellow, but that 
is more than you ought to give. You keep it, 
and I'll give fifty cents for you — or somebody 
else will." **Git eout!" was his disgusted re- 
ply. ''Yer take it now. P'raps I ain't so poor 
as yer think. My father, he saws wood, and 
my mother, she takes in washin', and I sells 
matches, and Tom, he sells papers, and p'raps 
were got more money than yer think." 

What could she do but accept his offering. 
And forgetting his dirty face and touseled hair 
she stooped down to kiss him. But divining 
her intention he darted out on the sidewalk as 
if he had been shot. "No, yer don't !" he said, 
shaking his tangled head at her, and looking 
as if he had escaped a great danger. "I ain't 
one o' that kissin' sort." 

Mrs. Livermore and those associated with 
her at the Chicago headquarters, not only re- 
ceived, re-packed, and distributed the numer- 
ous supplies sent to them, but she visited the 
hospitals frequently to see how the sick and 
wounded were cared for. And her visits al- 
ways brought cheer and hope. Her presence 



50 The Women of Illinois 

was a balm to many of the brave unfortunates. 
Her ministrations were often more efficient 
than the skill of the surgeon. And it is within 
the bounds of truth to say that she saved as 
many lives as did even the most skillful of the 
medical staff. Her bright, cheery words dis- 
pelled despondency and kindled hope in the 
hearts of many who had given up all expecta- 
tion of ever again seeing home or friends. 

She sent trained nurses where their services 
were needed most, and furnished them with 
supplies for those under their care. Through 
her efforts many soldiers obtained sick fur- 
loughs and were permitted to go home to re- 
cuperate. She obtained their back pay for 
hundreds, and wrote scores of letters every 
day for men who were so maimed or weak 
that they could not write. She never failed to 
answer every letter received from a soldier, or 
from a soldier's relatives inquiring about him, 
and she was always ready and willing to feed 
all hungry soldiers who called at headquarters, 
and advise them as to the best route to their 
homes. 

Not only did she make several trips to the 
hospitals in the southland, but she frequently 
traveled over the Northwest urging the women 
to greater efforts, as the demands on the re- 



Mrs. Mary A. Livermore 51 

sources of the Commission were great and ur- 
gent, and nobly did the women respond. Ev- 
ery city, town and village had its fair, festival, 
or picnic party for the purpose of obtaining 
money to be spent for the sick and wounded 
soldiers, but still the supply was not equal to 
the demand. Not that the patriotism or zeal 
of the loyal women of the Northwest was di- 
minishing in the least, but that the number 
needing aid had wofully increased. 

After considering the matter carefully, Mrs. 
Livermore and her able assistant, Mrs. Hoge, 
decided to replenish the treasury by holding a 
grand fair in which the entire Northwest 
would take part. They consulted the gentle- 
men of the Commission who languidly ap- 
proved of the plan, and laughed at the idea of 
raising $25,000 by the enterprise. The ladies 
were not discouraged, however. They called 
upon all the aid societies of the Northwest to 
send representatives to a mass meeting of wo- 
men to be held in Chicago. The response was 
very general. These delegates entered heart- 
ily into Mrs. Livermore's plans, and returned 
to their homes filled with holy enthusiasm for 
the cause, and as a result the entire Northwest 
was aroused in behalf of the sick and wounded 
soldiers as never before. 



52 The Women of Illinois 

Circulars were sent out by the scores of 
thousands. The newspapers pubHshed free of 
charge all material sent to them. An exten- 
sive correspondence was opened with govern- 
ors, congressmen, members of legislatures, 
and ministers of the gospel. The ministers 
aided very much by advertising the fair from 
their pulpits, and urging their people to take 
an active part in the matter as a religious duty. 

The amount of correspondence carried on 
by the central office was well-nigh incredible, 
as may be seen by the fact that on one occa- 
sion "seventeen bushels of mail matter, all of 
it relating to the fair," were sent out, and the 
answers were emphatic. Instead of $25,000, 
the ladies cleared nearly $100,000; and they 
richly deserved their victory. 

This fair of 1863 was followed by others in 
different parts of the country. But although 
they brought large sums of money into the 
treasury of the general Commission, none 
aroused the enthusiasm that this did. 

Owing to an incident that took place in con- 
nection with this fair, Mrs. Livermore made a 
vow that when the war was over, she would 
take up a new work — the work of making law 
and justice equal for men and women. This 
vow she kept religiously. So soon as the war 



Mrs. Mary A. Livermore 



53 



was over, she ascended the lecture platform 
from which she addressed audiences of thous- 
ands. And although these were the days of 
brilliant platform speakers, there was no abler 
advocate of legal equality for men and women 
than Mary A. Livermore. 



p 



CHAPTER FIVE 

FRANCES EI.IZABKTH WII.I.ARD 

EACE hath its victories as well as war. 
Turning aside from war with all its hor- 
rors, let us see what a few of the women of 
Illinois have done along the paths of peace. ^ 

The greatest change that has taken place in 
this country since the Civil War is a social 
one. And in no way, perhaps, has society 
changed so much as in its attitude towards 
the use of intoxicating liquors. Before the 
war its use was very general, even by respect- 
able people. It was considered by many that 
no social function could be a success unless 
liquor was very much in evidence; and hos- 
pitality without it was considered a misnomer. 
It was used freely in all classes of society. 
The farmer could not harvest his grain nor 
*'raise" his barn without it. The merchant 
kept it in the room back of his store to treat 
his customers and so retain their trade. All 
classes of tradesmen treated their patrons; if 
they did not their business was sure to suffer. 
And it goes with the saying that the politi- 



56 The Women of Illinois 

cians, especially the seekers for office, were 
very liberal in treating the ''sovereign voters." 
If they neglected this part of their campaign- 
ing there was a probability that the free and 
patriotic sovereigns would be heard cheering 
on election day for the opposing candidates 
who furnished the stimulant. 

Now^ all of this is changed. The use of 
liquor at social gatherings is no longer deemed 
necessary. Indeed its use on such occasions 
is condemned by all respectable people. Alco- 
holic stimulants are no longer regarded as 
needful accessories to good-fellowship. Neither 
are they considered helpful in the performance 
of intellectual or manual labor. On the con- 
trary they have been proven to be harmful. 
They cloud the brain, shatter the nerves, ren- 
der the muscles flaccid, and weaken the will, 
so that no one of these can perform its proper 
work. This fact has become so apparent that 
railroad corporations and other large employ- 
ers of labor will not keep a man in their em- 
ploy who is addicted to the use of intoxicants ; 
some roads going so far as to require entire 
abstinence on the part of those in their service. 

The farmer has learned that his harvesting 
will be done as well, or even better, without 
the presence of the little brown jug in the 



Frances Elizabeth Willard ^7 

field or the decanter on the table. And public 
sentiment has been so educated that the mer- 
chant or tradesman who is known to use liquor 
himself and treat his customers is sure to drive 
away business, instead of gaining it, for the 
better class of customers lose confidence in 
him, and his rating with his creditors is sure 
to fall below par. And politicians, too, have 
grown wise. If they treat at all, they do so 
on the sly, as they are well aware that where 
liquor gains them one vote it may lose them 
three. Besides, the law in some of the states 
makes treating a fineable offense, especially 
when done with the purpose of influencing 
votes. And this wholesome change has been 
brought about largely through the labor of 
Miss Frances E. Willard. 

Frances Elizabeth Willard was born at 
Churchville, New York, September 28, 1839. 
While quite young her family moved to Ober- 
lin, Ohio, where her father taught for a few 
years. In 1846, the Willards moved to a farm 
near Janesville, Wisconsin. Mr. Willard built 
his house in the edge of a forest of oak and 
hickory trees that grew on the banks of the 
beautiful Rock river, with the prairie back of 
the grove. Because of its situation the farm 
was called ''Forest Home." 



58 The Women of Illinois 

The family consisted of Air. and Mrs. Wil- 
lard, Frances, her sister Mary and brother 
Oliver. Here the children lived a happy, care- 
free life for many years. Yet it must be said 
that Frances's happiness was clouded at times, 
as she did not like to do housework, or sew. 
Perhaps the only sewing which she ever did, 
without entering protest, was in making a 
flag for use in a Fourth of July celebration 
held in her own backyard. This flag she made 
by sewing red stripes and blue paper stars on 
an old pillowcase. Her delight was to ramble 
through the w^oods and over the prairie with 
her father and hear him talk interestingly 
about the various plants and flowers. 

But while she abhorred housework, especi- 
ally dishwashing, she was passionately fond 
of all boyish sports. Indeed it seemed in her 
case that nature made a mistake and embodied 
in feminine form strong masculine likes and 
dislikes. "When her brother walked on stilts, 
she walked on stilts just as high; when he 
played marbles, she knelt on the ground and 
shot with an accuracy that any boy might 
well envy; when he pitched horseshoes she 
pitched horseshoes; when he played prisoner's 
base, she played, and there was none more 
fleet-footed; and when it was decided to take 



Frances Elizabeth Willard 59 

a few slides down the haystack, she entered 
the sport with vigor."^ And she enjoyed 
drowning out a gopher and hitting him on the 
head with a shovel, as keenly as the boys did. 
She justified herself to her tender hearted sis- 
ter by saying that the gopher destroyed their 
corn, so they had a right to destroy the gopher. 

One of the great sorrows of those early 
days was that her father would not let her 
ride on horseback as her brother did. The 
only reason he gave for his decision was "girls 
should not ride as boys did." This reason was 
not satisfactory to Frances, so she determined 
that if she could not ride a horse she would 
ride a cow, and she began immediately to train 
for this purpose a cow which was her own 
property. 

Oliver disapproved of the plan. Cows were 
not meant for riding purposes he said, their 
part in the economy of nature was to give 
milk, so he would not help even to the extent 
of making a halter. The hired man was more 
pliable, however, and he assisted in making 
such articles as were necessary. In the mean- 
time Frances began training "Dime," the cow, 
by petting her and giving her extra feed, and 
in a short time she would come to her mistress 



'Bernie Babcock: An Uncrowned Queen. 



60 The Women of Illinois 

when called and follow her around as obedi- 
ently as a dog. 

At first the cow w^as trained to draw a sled, 
being equipped with the harness made by the 
hired man. It took some time to get her to 
draw the sled, but it was accomplished event- 
ually, and then began the training for the sad- 
dle. The little girl was so anxious to have a 
ride that she had many a tumble before she 
could adjust herself to the awkward miotions 
of her "steed," but she succeeded in her pur- 
pose. When the father heard of the ''cow- 
back" performance, he decided to let her ride 
on horseback, that being the less of two evils. 

She also trained ''Nig," the black goat, who 
became very serviceable on picnic occasions by 
carrying the lunch packed in saddlebags which 
hung over his back at a safe distance from 
his mouth. 

When her brother was given a gun, she 
asked for one that she, too, might hunt, but 
her father would not grant the request, as he 
did not think that hunting was a proper thing 
for girls to do. Her brother laughed at her 
and said a gun would be of no service to her 
as she would be afraid to fire it off; girls were 
cowards anyway. To show him that she was 
not a coward she walked around the pasture 



Frances Elizabeth Willard 61 

in front of his double-barreled gun, with the 
barrels loaded and the hammers cocked. 

Since she could not have a gun, she would 
have something with which to shoot, so she 
became an expert with the bow. She had 
either read the story of William Tell, or some- 
one had told it to her, and she determined to 
emulate his skill. She told Mary to stand be- 
side a post through w^hich w^as an augur hole. 
Mary's eyes came just even with the hole 
through which Frances shot arrow after ar- 
row, so confident in her skill that she never 
once thought that if she miissed the hole 
Mary's eye would be the cost. When this 
feat was related to her mother she shuddered 
at what might have been. 

The education of the Willard girls pro- 
ceeded in a desultory fashion until Frances 
was about twelve years of age, when Mrs. 
Willard succeeded in securing the services of 
Miss Burdick, an accomplished young lady 
from the East, who with her relatives moved 
recently to a farm not far from Forest Home. 
Mrs. Willard's parlor was used as a school- 
room. Here, seated around a large table made 
by Mr. Willard and fitted with shelves for 
books, sat Frances, Mary, and two neighbor- 
ing little girls, all so in love with their teacher 



62 The Women of Illinois 

that learning was a pleasure, and not a task. 
Frances liked not only her teacher, but her 
schoolmates as well. One of the little strang- 
ers was so good natured that nothing could 
vex her. Frances stepped on her toes one day 
hoping to make her frown at least, but the 
victim smiled sweetly at her which caused the 
tormenter to feel ashamed of herself and to 
stop tormenting. 

From her earliest schooldays, composition 
as an important part of an education was 
brought to the attention of Frances, and at 
an early age she became impressed with the 
dignity of authorship. With her usual fore- 
sight, she determined that if she was to write 
she must have privacy, and after considerable 
search she found a place well suited for her 
purpose. Near the front gate grew a tall oak 
tree, several of whose branches were so ar- 
ranged as to make a comfortable seat. Close 
to this seat she fastened a box in which in 
keep writing materials. And to guard against 
intrusion she painted a sign, reading, ''Be- 
ware of the Eagle's Nest," and nailed it to 
the tree, believing that no person thus warned 
would disturb her. 

Her first attempt at composition was in 
the first school she attended. She had con- 



Frances Elizabeth Willard 63 

siderable trouble in selecting a topic, but she 
finally decided to write about a favorite kit- 
ten. It took Miss Burdick, the teacher, some 
time to read this first composition, and Frances 
herself was not sure of some of the words. 

During the two years that the children 
were taught at their home by Miss Burdick, 
Mr. Willard and his neighbors were building 
a schoolhouse. The completion of this school- 
house marked an epoch in the lives of the For- 
est Home children. It was never painted 
inside or out; yet, it was a real schoolhouse, 
and as such gained great distinction in the 
neighborhood, partly, perhaps, because a live 
man teacher from Oberlin was to preside 
t'here. 

The girls were very much excited at the 
prospect of attending school in a truly school- 
house. Oliver prophesied trouble for Frances, 
for he did not believe that a girl who played 
Jehu to calves, reapers, and plow-beams, as 
she did, would take kindly to sitting still all 
day and not whispering to her dearest friend 
even; so he said he expected a riot — a rum- 
pus, a row — before the first month was out. 
To this Frances answered in her loftiest man- 
ner, "Wait and see." 

But neither compositions nor diary writ- 



64 The Women of Illinois 

ing satisfied the literary ambition of this young 
lady. She longed to be the author of an en- 
tire book — something intensely stirring and 
exciting. So she began a great novel, en- 
titled, ''Rupert Melville and His Comrades; 
a Story of Adventure." Oliver declared there 
were so many characters in the story that she 
could not possibly kill them off in less than 
a thousand pages. The story was never fin- 
ished, as before she reached the thrilling cli- 
max which she had planned, the young writer 
decided to try poetry, which she did with 
marked success for one so young. 

Frances had a strong desire to see some- 
thing from her pen in print. So she wrote 
an article which she sent by the hired man 
to a Janesville paper. It was not published, 
and the editor in referring to it, said he knew 
it was written by a man. Still desirous of 
seeing her name in print, she set out one day 
to secure subscribers for a little paper which 
promised to print the names of every boy and 
girl who sent in names of subscribers. But, 
alas ! for human expectations, when her name 
appeared it was spelled with an "i" where 
should be an "e"; which led her to say that 
the publishers seemed to think that a girl could 
not amount to anything in the world anyway, 



Frances Elizabeth Willard 65 

as one claimed the article sent to him was 
written by a man, and this one writes the 
name like a boy's. 

It will be evident to any one who reads 
these lines that Frances E. Willard was of a 
very independent turn of mind. He will be 
fully confirmed in this belief when he reads 
of a conversation between herself and her 
father on the day when she was eighteen 
years of age. After celebrating the event by 
writing a poem in which she gloried in her 
freedom, she sat down to read "Ivanhoe," a 
book forbidden by her father. 

Deep in the pleasure of the story she 
was interrupted by her father's voice, asking 
sternly, "What have you there?" 

"One of Scott's novels," she answered. 

"Have I not forbidden you to read nov- 
els?" 

"You have; and in the main I've kept faith 
with you in this ; but you forget what day it 
is." 

"What day, indeed! I should like to know 
if the day has anything to do with the deed!" 

"Indeed it has — I am eighteen — I am of 
age — I am now to do what / think right; I 
am to obey God's law alone; and to read this 



66 The Women of Illinois 

fine historical story is, in my opinion, a right 
thing for me to do." 

For a moment Mr. Willard stood speech- 
less, almost doubting his own ears, then he 
laughed, and calling Mrs. Willard, said, "She 
is evidently a chip of the Puritan block;" and 
to Frances he said, "Well, we will try to learn 
God's laws and obey them together, my child." 

The day that brought Frances freedom in 
one way, brought her thraldom in another — 
thraldom to the conventionalities. Her mother 
insisted that she must have her hair done up 
in woman fashion and to wear long dresses. 
In describing her "martyrdom," as she terms 
it, she says "My back hair is twisted up like 
a cork-screw; I carry eighteen hairpins; my 
head aches miserably ; my feet are entangled in 
the skirt of my hateful new gowm. I can 
never jump over a fence again as long as I 
live. As for chasing the sheep, down in the 
shady pasture, it's out of the question, and to 
climb to my 'Eagle's nest' seat in the big oak 
tree would ruin this new frock beyond repair. 
Altogether I recognize the fact that my 'oc- 
cupation's gone.' " 

The Willard sisters having all the education 
they could obtain in the district school, it was 
decided to send them to the Milwaukee Fe- 



Frances Elizabeth Willard 67 

male College, in which one of Mrs. Willard's 
sisters was a teacher. Here they stayed one 
year and acquitted themselves very creditably. 

At the close of the summer vacation, Mr. 
Willard decided to send his daughters to the 
Northwestern Female College, a new school 
established recently at Evanston, Illinois. 
Sadly they bade adieu to the familiar haunts 
and objects at Forest Home — never again to 
be their home. 

With the natural curiosity of the average 
school girl, the students already at the college 
w^aited the coming of the Wisconsin girls. Af- 
ter close inspection it was decided that the new 
girls were entirely satisfactory from an artis- 
tic standpoint. Mary, though younger than 
her sister, w^as taller and very graceful, but 
no more attractive than Frances, whose bright 
red hair had turned to a golden brown, and 
whose eyes were as bright as the June sky; 
and her shapely hands and feet were admired 
by all. 

The question of appearance having been de- 
cided in their favor, their ability as students 
remained to be tested. Little was said of 
Mary, although she was ahvays a faithful and 
thorough student, but Frances's brilliancy won 
the admiration of both students and teachers 



68 The Women of Illinois 

from the beginning. "My, but can't the new 
girl recite! She beats us all!'' were remarks 
heard at the close of the first day's recitations. 

Her companions soon discovered that while 
Frances was kind and generous, she could not 
be imposed upon with safety. This fact she 
impressed forcefully upon her associates on a 
memorable occasion. 

Mr. Willard was a good man and a fond 
father, but his artistic taste was not very 
highly developed, especially as to the harmo- 
nious blending of colors. Without consulting 
their wishes he purchased two red yarn hoods 
for his daughters, with which neither was 
pleased. The hood looked well enough on 
Mary whose complexion was different from 
that of Frances, but on Frances it was so out 
of harmony with her hair, that using her own 
words, she ''hated it with a hatred and a half." 

To wear the hated head dress was punish- 
ment enough for one of her artistic tempera- 
ment, but to be made sport of for what she 
could not help was more than she could bear 
with patience. So when the daughter of a 
wealthy family took especial pains to make the 
unfortunate hood the target for her ridicule, 
Frances warned her to stop doing so, but she 
paid no attention to the warning. Conse- 



Frances Elizabeth Willard 69 

quently, one day when she was especially 
spiteful in her foolishness, Frances stepped up 
and struck her a blow that laid her flat on the 
floor. The ridicule stopped, and the tormenter 
became one of Frances's most ardent friends. 

The ''wildest girl" in school was another of 
her friends. From the first day of their ac- 
quaintance they were almost inseparable. The 
seventy rules of the school, which Frances on 
her entrance determined to keep, were soon 
brushed aside through the influence of the new 
friend. The two soon gathered around them 
a group of kindred spirits known in the school 
as the ''ne'er-do-weels." 

It will be readily inferred by the reader that 
Frances was not a professed Christian at this 
time. But while this was true, it was also true 
that she had too much respect for sacred things 
to be intentionally irreverent. It could not 
well be otherwise with the training she had 
from childhood. 

At the head of a small company of the 
"wild set" she went to a prayer meeting which 
was being held one afternoon in the room of 
one of the "good girls." No sooner had she 
entered the room than she was given a bible 
and asked to lead the meeting. Seeing no way 
out of the predicament, she took the bible. 



70 The Women of Illinois 

and after reading a few verses, said 'Xet us 
pray," and every girl in the room but one of 
her own set knelt. Seeing this, Frances ex- 
claimed with great disapproval, "Lineburger, 
why don't you kneel down and behave! If 
you don't you're a disgrace to yourself and 
the Lineburger tribe." And not wishing to 
disgrace her entire tribe, Lineburger knelt. 

One of the books owned by her special 
friend at this time was "J^^k Sheppard." This 
Frances read with great relish and gained 
from it an inspiration to play pirate. In or- 
der to make the play as realistic as possible 
under the circumstances, they provided them- 
selves with boots, wooden pistols, and soda 
pop as a substitute for liquor. And as pirates 
were regarded as inveterate smokers, the girls 
secured cigars, which they lighted and con- 
verted into as much smoke as possible, think- 
ing the school authorities would never be the 
wiser. 

In the midst of a splendid strutting scene, 
however, when boots v/ere much in evidence 
and soda pop handy, one of the lady teachers, 
drawn by the scent of the cigar smoke, ap- 
peared upon the scene much to the dismay of 
the pirates. They expected to receive a severe 
scolding, but the teacher simply said in a pleas- 



Frances Elizabeth Willard 71 

ant voice, "Well if this is not fortunate. The 
mosquitoes have almost driven me out of my 
room this hot night, and if you girls will just 
come in and smoke them out it will be a great 
favor to me." The young ladies could not 
well do otherwise than to march to the teach- 
er's room, where they had the mortification of 
sitting some time with boots and cigars. This 
was all the punishment they ever received, but 
it was enough. It caused piracy to go into a 
marked decline, and boots and cigars to dis- 
appear from the pirates' haunts. 

The strong attachment between Frances 
and her fascinating friend, the 'Svild girl," de- 
cided Mr. and Mrs. Willard to move from 
Forest Home to Evanston, so the girls could 
again be under the watchful care of their pa- 
rents. The new home was surrounded by ex- 
tensive grounds which Mr. Willard named 
"Swampscott." This was adorned with flow- 
ers and shrubs from the old home, so that it 
might look all the more homelike to the chil- 
dren. Here they lived together until the chil- 
dren graduated. 

At this point it becomes necessary to chron- 
icle what, perhaps, was the greatest disappoint- 
ment in the life of Frances E. Willard. She 
was chosen valedictorian of her class, her 



72 The Women of Illinois 

white graduating gown was ready, and the 
young lady was looking forward with high 
hopes to the great day on which she should 
wear it and occupy the center of the stage, 
the observed of all observers. Before that day 
arrived, however, she was taken sick and had 
to stand a long siege of typhoid fever. Her 
diploma was sent to her by her sister Mary, 
and there was no valedictory address. 

With her spirit of independence, her desire 
to live a life with a purpose, and her constant 
longing to help make the world better and 
happier it was an impossibility for Miss Wil- 
lard to live an inactive, dependent life. So 
after considering the matter for some time, 
she decided, notwithstanding her father's ob- 
jections, to be a school teacher. She applied 
to the County Superintendent for a position, 
but it was so late that there was but one school 
without a teacher, and that was a small one 
in an undesirable locality. This she accepted 
to the great annoyance of her father who be- 
lieved that women folks should stay at home 
with their husbands and fathers. 

On arriving at the seat of learning over 
whose destinies she was to preside for months 
to come, she found that the boys who had al- 
ready assembled had been enjoying themselves 



Frances Elizabeth Willard 73 

fighting and breaking the windows. But when 
she called them to order, they selected for the 
opening song, "I want to be an Angel," and 
sung it with great heartiness, if with little 
melody. 

After teaching country schools in several 
places until she had proven her ability to her 
own satisfaction, she obtained a position in 
the Evanston schools. She was proud of this 
position, although it was a difficult one. She 
was known to nearly all of the people of the 
town, many of whom did not think she would 
succeed because of her youthfulness; and she 
had tO' demonstrate her fitness. Besides, some 
of the larger boys gave trouble at first, object- 
ing to being under the control of a. young wo- 
man. But upon Miss Willard enforcing dis- 
cipline with a stick, some of the boys seeing 
her coming towards them jumped out of the 
window and never returned, leaving the cour- 
ageous young woman monarch of all she sur- 
veyed. 

The first great sorrow that entered into the 
life of Frances E. Willard was caused by the 
death of her sister Mary. The sisters loved 
each other dearly, and the departure of the 
younger one, gentle and lovable as she always 
was, left the older one disconsolate and bowed 



74 The Women of Illinois 

down with grief, yet it had a marked refining 
influence upon her Hfe and character. 

After the death of Mary the Willard family 
were so heartbroken that in a few weeks the 
home was given up, and Frances was elected 
preceptress in the Northwestern Female Col- 
lege, where she had been a pupil three years 
before. From this school she went to the 
Pittsburg College, and then to the Genesee 
Seminary. While here she became acquainted 
with Miss Katherine Jackson, and the ac- 
quaintance had a marked influence upon her 
life. 

Miss Jackson was the only daughter of a 
wealthy eastern manufacturer. Owing to the 
fact that her mother had died when she was a 
child she spent much of her time in traveling. 
One day she surprised Frances by saying, ''Go 
home with me at Christmas, for I am bound 
to coax my father to agree that we make the 
tour of Europe." 

Mr. Willard's failing health stopped the 
plan for awhile, but his sickness proving fa- 
tal, the self-sacrificing mother urged her 
daughter to accept the generous offer of her 
friend, while she herself would visit Oliver 
who was now married and living on a farm in 
Wisconsin. 



Frances Elizabeth Willard 75 

The travelers visited all the countries of 
Europe, staying several days in each of the 
principal cities. Frances was a very careful 
observer and a close student of social condi- 
tions. Even at this early day the condition of 
woman in the various countries arrested her 
attention. Their hard lot had succeeded in 
brutalizing- many of them, and through them 
was sure to brutalize their offspring. Even in 
cultured Berlin she saw women harnessed with 
dogs to vegetable wagons, standing meekly in 
the market place waiting for their liege lord 
to give them the w^ord of command to move 
on; and he sometimes emphasized his com- 
mand by using his whip on both woman and 
dog. On witnessing such scenes the question 
often arose, ''Why are these things so? Why 
is not the man harnessed with the dog and the 
woman doing the driving?" And as yet she 
could not formulate a satisfactory answer. 

After "doing" Europe our tourists visited 
Egypt, sailed on the Nile, climbed the pyra- 
mids, and stood in the burial chamber of him 
at whose word arose the greatest of human 
structures. Separating themselves from the 
fleas of Egypt, our friends sailed from Port 
Said to Joppa, and from there went to Jeru- 
salem which they found to be one of the most 



76 The Women of Illinois 

disagreeable and dismal cities which they had 
seen, its streets being narrow and filthy and 
its inhabitants not over-clean. They visited 
nearly all places of biblical interest, going as 
far as Damascus where they visited a slave 
market in which they saw women and girls 
sold into slavery. 

After spending a month in Palestine, Miss 
Willard and her friend visited Constantinople 
and Athens. Of the latter city she speaks in 
temis of high praise. Its wide, clean streets 
and smooth sidewalks were in strong contrast 
to the narrow, filthy streets of the Orient. And 
the travelers found its spacious stores and 
clean hotels very restful after their experience 
in the cramped bazaars and flea-ridden inns of 
the east. On their way home they again vis- 
ited Paris, London, and Liverpool, from which 
place they sailed for the United States after 
an absence of two years. 

Shortly after returning home Miss Willard 
was elected preceptress in the Northwestern 
University. Up to this time she had given 
the subject of intemperance no special thought, 
but the women's crusade against the saloon, 
which broke out in Hillsboro, Ohio, and 
spread through the state called her attention 
to the subject. And it required only a limited 



Frances Elizabeth Willard 77 

study of the results effected by the liquor traf- 
fic to convince her that in it was to be found 
the monster iniquity of the age, the breeder 
of poverty and vice, the enemy of justice, the 
destroyer of homes, and the debaucher of 
manhood. As she mused on these things, the 
fires of the desire to make the world better 
that had long smouldered in her soul broke 
into an irresistible flame, and the great, un- 
tried field of a temperance reformer called 
upon her to enter it. She resigned her posi- 
tion in the university and threw in her lot with 
the devoted women whose motto was, ''For 
God and Home and Native Land." 

Her career as a temperance reformer is so 
w^ell known from one end of the land to the 
other that it is not necessary to dwell upon it 
here. She was not engaged in the cause very 
long until she became satisfied that it was 
handicapped by woman's exclusion from the 
ballot box. From this time on she plead earn- 
estly for giving woman the right to vote. And 
as she became satisfied that the only way to 
obtain this privilege was through politics she 
threw her influence and that of the Women's 
Christian Temperance Unions, so far as she 
could control them, in favor of the prohibition 
party. 

Many friends of temperance regarded this 



78 The Women of Illinois 

as a serious mistake. They believed that the 
Unions should have kept out of politics, and 
that their endorsement of equal suffrage weak- 
ened their cause. Be this as it may, it is true 
that Miss Willard by voice and pen brought 
temperance and equal suffrage to the attention 
of men as was done never before. And it is 
due largely to her labors that the attitude of 
society towards the use of intoxicating liquors 
has changed so much, and for the better, in 
the last quarter century. 

If Miss Willard had done nothing else than 
to inspire the women of the country ''to make 
liquor-selling and liquor-drinking with conse- 
quent ruin to men and their families, hateful 
and disreputable before the world," she would 
be worthy of high praise. But in addition to 
her eloquent advocacy of temperance and of 
equal suffrage, she became the leader in this 
country of the "White Cross League," an or- 
ganization pledged to equal purity for man 
and woman. And only God knows the effect 
of this movement upon the manners and mor- 
als of the youth of the country. But it is 
given even to us mortals to know that its in- 
fluence has been great and beneficent. 

Well may Illinois womanhood be proud of 
Frances Elizabeth Willard, who died Febru- 
ary 1 8, 1898. 



CHAPTER SIX 

JANE ADDAMS 

A CHICAGO man when asked to name the 
^ ^ greatest man in America, is said to have 
repHed, "Jane Addams." If greatness is to be 
measured by actual achievement for the benefit 
of humanity — and what better test can there 
be? — he came very near speaking the literal 
truth. Few people, at the close of a long life, 
can point to such a record of good work done 
as the founder of Hull House can look back 
upon at the age of fifty-one. This chapter 
which is based on her ''Twenty Years at 
Hull House," falls far short of doing full jus- 
tice to Miss Addams and her co-workers. 

Jane Addams was born in Cedarville, Illi- 
nois, September 6, i860. Her mother dying 
when she was an infant, her father became 
her confidant ; to him she revealed the thoughts 
and fancies of her innocent heart. She was 
fortunate in her father who was a member of 
the society of Friends, a man of fine character 
and of high standing in the community, as 
was shown by his election to the state legisla- 



80 The Women of Illinois 

tnre in which he served with distinction for 
a number of years. 

\\'hen Jane was eight years of age her 
father married again, but the marriage did not 
sever the confidential relations which existed 
between father and daughter. All through her 
childhood he continued to be the dominating 
influence in her life, and to hold her supreme 
affection. To have done anything that she 
thought would be displeasing to him caused 
her profound sorrow. 

One night on thinking over the acts of the 
day, she remembered that she had told a lie. 
The remembrance caused her to toss about in 
her bed in the grip of a terrible fear that she 
might die before she could tell her father of 
her sin and go to a fiery hell which she had 
heard of from some of her playfellows, or 
from some foolish adults. Or perhaps her 
father might die before morning, and then she 
would have no opportunity to confess her sin 
to him and be forgiven. This thought so in- 
creased her anguish that she determined to go 
downstairs to her father's room and confess 
her fault. Her description of the journey is 
very pathetic and reveals the workings of a 
sensitive child's mind. 

On reaching her father's bedside and un- 



Jane Addams 81 

burdening her conscience, she invariably re- 
ceived the same answer, ''diat if he had a Ht- 
tie girl who told lies, he was glad that she felt 
too bad to go tO' sleep afterwards." No for- 
giveness was asked for or received, but the 
consciousness that the knowledge of her wick- 
edness was shared by her father enabled her 
to go back to bed and sleep peacefully the rest 
of the night ; she was comforted. 

It is evident that in those early years her 
father was her ideal of all manly perfection. 
vShe was very proud of him. She imagined 
that strangers who visited the church on Sun- 
day and saw him dressed in his Sunday frock- 
coat, teaching a bible class must be filled with 
admiration for such a dignified person. And 
she prayed earnestly that the "ugly, pigeon- 
toed little girl whose crooked back obliged her 
to walk with her head held very much upon 
one side would never be pointed out to these 
strangers as the daughter of such a fine look- 
ing man." (It seems that at this time she was 
afflicted with some spinal trouble which gave 
her a deformed appearance.) To do w^hat she 
could to protect her father from such a dis- 
grace, she was in the habit on these Sundays 
to keep from walking home by his side, and 
to walk by the side of her uncle, so the stran- 



82 The Women of Illinois 

gers might think she was his daughter and not 
her father's; akhough one of the chief joys 
that the Sabbath usually brought her was to 
walk to and from church with her hand in 
that of her father's. 

Mr. Addams was a miller by trade and in 
Jane's girlhood days operated two mills, a 
saw-mill and a grist-mill, but was financially 
able to employ men to do the work. These 
mills were frequented by the children who 
used them as playhouses. To ride on a log 
while it slowly approached the buzzing saw 
which was to rip it up, and to get off in time 
to escape a gory death was very exciting play ; 
all the more fascinating, perhaps, because of 
the element of danger. 

The flouring mill, however, had a greater 
attraction for the youngsters than did the 
other. Here the farmers brought their wheat 
to be ground and waited to carry the flour, 
bran and shorts home with them. To watch 
the wheat go down the hopper and come out 
from between the stones, flour, bran and shorts 
all mixed up together, only to be carried out 
of sight in mysterious little buckets, to appear 
again each by itself, led to interest and won- 
der on the part of the young observers. 

The bran room, especially, was a source of 



Jane Addams ^3 

delight. It rivaled the sand pile in the oppor- 
tunities it afforded for pla}^ The little girl 
spent many an hour in the mill rubbing the 
ground wheat between her thumb and fingers 
hoping that her thumb would become flattened 
like her father's, so the so-called '^miller's 
thumb" would be another bond of union be- 
tween them. So great was her admiration for 
her father and so consuming was her desire to 
be like him in as many respects as possible 
that she was in the habit of standing by the 
mill stones when they were being dressed in 
order that the hard particles should mark the 
back of her hands as her father's were marked. 
To her great sorrow this desire was not re- 
alized. 

An incident that occurred when she was 
seven years old would seem to be prophetic. 
One day as she was walking with her father 
through the poorest part of the neighboring 
city she noticed that the houses were all small 
and that their surroundings denoted a degree 
of squalor not tO' be seen in the country, or in 
the village in which she lived. She asked her 
father why people lived in such miserable little 
houses built sO' close together. On receiving 
his explanation she declared with much pos- 
itiveness that when she was grown up she 



84 The Women of Illinois 

would have a large house, but it would not be 
built among the other large houses, but right 
in the midst of horrid little houses like these. 
Hull House is the fulfillment of the prophecy. 

The girl, Jane, often thought along other 
serious lines besides the cause of the difference 
between the rich and the poor. Religion ar- 
rested her attention. She and her playmates 
discussed the doctrine of fore-ordination with 
great earnestness. Her best friend understood 
the matter fully, but she could not fathom its 
profound depths to her own satisfaction. As 
with all her troubles she submitted her theo- 
logical difficulty to her father and asked for 
an explanation. He replied that he feared 
neither of them had the kind of mind that 
would ever understand the subject, and that 
it did not matter much whether they under- 
stood it or not, but that it was very important 
not to pretend to understand it when they did 
not; and that one must be always honest with 
himself inside, no matter what happened. She 
was greatly comforted by her father's admis- 
sion that their minds were on an equality on 
the subject. 

Her religious bent manifested itself in other 
ways than in the discussion of fore-ordination. 
She and a brother built an altar in a secluded 



Jane Addams ^5 

spot by the home stream. To this altar they 
brought all the snakes they killed on their va- 
rious excursions through the fields and woods, 
no matter how far the distance. With the 
snakes they placed on the altar one out of ev- 
ery hundred black walnuts which they had 
gathered, and then poured over the whole a 
pitcher of cider. On this sacrificial altar they 
sometimes offered a book or two, to empha- 
size their renunciation of the vanities of the 
world. 

The same religious feeling led them, long 
before they began to study Latin, to commit 
to memory the Lord's prayer in that tongue, 
from an old copy of the Vulgate. This prayer 
they repeated each night, believing it more re- 
ligious to do so than to repeat it in the ver- 
nacular. 

Mr. Addams was a member of the Illinois 
senate from 1854 to 1870. Those sixteen 
years were, perhaps, the most important in the 
history of the nation; they surely were the 
most exciting. The discussions over the Fu- 
gitive Slave Law, the Kansas-Nebraska Bill, 
the Lincoln-Douglas Debates, the John Brown 
Raid, the Civil War, and Reconstruction were 
very bitter and aroused the most profound 
passions of men. And Mr. Addams being a 



86 The Women of Illinois 

prominent member of the legislature through 
all these stirring events, it was to be expected 
that he would be visited at his home by men 
prominent in the affairs of the state and na- 
tion. And such a precocious child as Jane 
would hear considerable of politics, and imag- 
ine more, in the latter years of her father's 
legislative career. Her father was an ardent 
admirer of Mr. Lincoln, was very fond of him 
in fact, and the affection was reciprocated. 
And after the tragic death of the President, 
Jane by means of his letters to her father, and 
the father's personal recollections was able to 
create a new Mr, Lincoln, and the beloved 
President lost no excellence by the new cre- 
ation. 

Anything associated with Mr. Lincoln ac- 
quired great sacredness to her. Even the w^ar 
eagle, "Old Abe," because of his name filled 
a prominent place in her thoughts. Many a 
time did she look to the north, hoping to see 
him with wide spread wings flying over the 
fields of Illinois, but to her great sorrow he 
did not come. The sorrow, however, was as- 
suaged a little later when in company with her 
father and other members of the family she 
visited the capitol of Wisconsin and saw the 
king of birds on his unworthy throne, and 



Jane Addams ^7 

heard the marvelous stories which the keeper 
told of his majesty. 

When seventeen years of age Miss Addams 
entered Rockford Seminary, ''The Mount 
Holyoke of the West." She was ambitious to 
enter Smith College but her father thought it 
better that she should attend a good school 
near home and after graduating travel a year 
in Europe, as he believed that the year's travel 
would give the polish that the eastern college 
Avas supposed to give. 

The description of her four years at the 
seminary is well worth reading. It shows how 
seriously the young women entered upon their 
academic career. They had unbounded ambi- 
tion, a high sense of their own ability, and the 
courage to attack and settle to their own sat- 
isfaction many of the great problems whose 
solution had baffled the wnsest of all ages. 

Of many incidents that occurred while at 
the seminary, some of which might be termed 
serio-comic, the most serious one is given here 
in Miss Addams's own words : "At one time," 
she tells us, "five of us tried to understand 
DeOuincey's marvelous 'dreams' more sympa- 
thetically, by drugging ourselves with opium. 
We solemnly consumed small w^hite powders 
at intervals during an entire long holiday, but 



88 The Women of Illinois 

no mental re-orientation took place, and the 
suspense and excitement did not even permit 
us to grow sleepy. About four o'clock on the 
weird afternoon the young teacher whom we 
had been obliged to take into our confidence, 
grew alarmed over the whole performance, 
took away our DeQuincey and all the remain- 
ing powders, administered an emetic to each 
of the five aspirants for sympathetic under- 
standing of all human experience and sent us 
to our separate rooms with a stern command 
to appear at family worship after supper 
whether we were able or not." 

The missionary spirit was very strong in 
the Seminary, due in part tO' the desire to em- 
ulate Mount Holyoke. Miss Addams resisted 
all influence tending in this direction. This 
resistance was due in part to the fact that her 
father was not a communicant of any church, 
and in part to the fact that the little group to 
which she belonged was much given to ration- 
alism, founded ujx)n an earlier reading of 
Emerson. When Bronson Alcott lectured at 
the school this group fairly worshiped him 
because he had been a friend of Emerson, and 
looked with sconi upon those of their fellow- 
students who cared for him because of his 
grandfatherly relation to "Little Women." 



Jane Addanis 89 

During her stay at the Seminary both teach- 
ers and students were anxious that the insti- 
tution should become a full-fledged college. 
To hasten the consummation of their burning 
desire, the school applied for an opportunity 
to compete in the intercollegiate oratorical 
contest of Illinois. The application was 
granted and Miss Addanis was chosen to rep- 
resent Rockford. No sooner was she elected 
to this honorable position than she was made 
to realize her many deficiencies. She was told 
with brutal frankness (as she expresses it) by 
her fellow-students of her many oratorical 
faults that would be sure to lose woman the 
first place in the contest. Woman did lose the 
first place and came fifth in the list, exactly in 
the middle, and she heartily agreed with the 
judges. She graduated with honor in 1881, 
and in August of the same year her father 
died, when seemingly she needed his counsel 
most. 

The winter after leaving Rockford she en- 
tered the Woman's Medical College of Phila- 
delphia so as to prepare herself to practice 
among the poor. But the spinal difficulty 
which had shadowed her since childhood now 
compelled her to give up her medical studies. 
She spent the next two years in Europe, and 



9^ The Women of Illinois 

before returning to America she found that 
there were other genuine reasons for living 
among the poor besides that of practicing 
medicine. 

While on the continent, although drawn ir- 
resistibly to the poorest quarters of the large 
cities, she declares that nothing among the 
beggars of South Italy, among the salt-miners 
of Austria, or among the women connected 
with the breweries of Germany carried with it 
the same conviction of human wretchedness as 
was conveyed by a momentary glimpse of an 
East London street. 

For two years in the midst of her distress 
over the poverty which had thus been suddenly 
driven into her consciousness there was ming- 
led a sense of futility, of misdirected energy, 
the belief that the pursuit of cultivation would 
not in the end bring solace or relief. She 
gradually reached a conviction that the first 
generation of college women had taken their 
learning too quickly, had departed too sud- 
denly from the active, emotional life led by 
their grandmothers and great-grandmothers; 
that the contemporary education of young wo- 
men had developed too exclusively the power 
of acc[uiring knowledge and of merely receiv- 
ing impressions ; that somewhere in the pro- 



Jane Addams 91 

cess of "being educated they had lost that sim- 
ple and almost automatic response to the 
human appeal, that old healthful reaction re- 
sulting in activity from the mere presence of 
suffering or of helplessness; that they are so 
sheltered and pampered that they have no 
chance even to make the great refusal." 

She says that it is difficult to tell just when 
the very simple plan which afterwards devel- 
oped into the "Settlement" began to form it- 
self in her mind. It may have been before she 
went to Europe for the second time, but she 
gradually became convinced that it would be 
a good thing to rent a house in a part of the 
city w^here many primitive and actual needs 
are found, in which young women who had 
been given over too exclusively to study, might 
restore a balance of activity along traditional 
lines and learn of life from life itself; where 
they might try out some of the things they 
had been taught. These plans she made 
known to her traveling companions at Madrid 
m 1888. The enthusiasm with which Miss 
Ellen Gates Starr, her old time school friend 
and one of her companions, regarded the plan 
strengthened Miss Addams in her purpose. 
Shortly after making her decision she again 
visited London and made a careful studv of 



92 The Women of Illinois 

Toynbee Hall, located amidst the poverty and 
squalor of the East End. 

January of the next year found herself and 
Miss Starr in Chicago searching for a neigh- 
borhood in which to start the Settlement. 
They were fortunate in finding a fine old man- 
sion which was erected by Mr. Charles J. Hull 
in 1856. When built, Hull House stood in 
the suburbs, but the city had so grow^n about 
it that it was far from the suburbs when it 
came into the possession of Miss Addams. Its 
surroundings were all that this enthusiastic 
young woman desired. Poverty and igno- 
rance, filth and vice pressed upon it on all 
sides. The house stood between an undertak- 
ing establishment and a saloon. "Knight, 
Death, and the Devil," was the description of 
the combination given by a Chicago wit; thus 
comparing the Settlement to a knight of the 
middle ages doing valiant service for the poor 
and oppressed. 

There are three well-defined kinds of settle- 
ments, the Nurses' Settlements, the Social Set- 
tlements, and the University Settlements. The 
underlying ideas of all are the same, viz., that 
all men are brothers and that it is the duty of 
those who are blessed with wealth or with in- 
tellectual abilitv to assist those who are not 



Jane Addams 93 

possessed of either. The greater their destitu- 
tion the stronger is their claim upon their 
more favored brothers. The greater their 
poverty and the more profound their ignorance 
the more need there is of a helping hand. And 
this helping hand should be held out to them 
regardless of their political belief, religious 
creed, or moral degradation. To' be most suc- 
cessful this work must not wear the garb of 
charity nor be actuated by a desire to ''convert 
sinners." 

The purposes of the Settlements, as stated 
by Miss Addams, herself, are threefold : "The 
first contains the desire to make the entire 
social organism democratic, tO' extend democ- 
racy beyond its political expression ; the sec- 
ond is the impulse to share the race life, and 
to bring as much as possible of social energy 
and the accumulation of civilization to those 
portions of the race which have little; the third 
springs from a certain renaissance of Chris- 
tianity, a movement toward its early humani- 
tarian aspects." 

The settlement movement originated in 
England, and to Arnold Toynbee, an Oxford 
tutor, belongs the credit of originating it. 
This consecrated young man spent two of his 
long vacations among the poor of East Lon- 



94 The Women of Illinois 

don. He was deeply moved by the poverty 
and squalor which were so prevalent. On his 
return to the university he succeeded in inter- 
esting other men in the sufferings which he 
witnessed. And although he did not live to 
see a Settlement of university men established 
among the outcasts of London, his spirit lived, 
and moved some benevolent persons to build a 
house in one of the poorest sections of the 
city, which should be occupied by university 
men who were to labor in various ways to 
raise the standard of living in their neighbor- 
hood. This building has grown into Toynbee 
Hall, which is the largest of forty such set- 
tlements in England and has at present over 
twenty residents, all university men. 

The principal Nurse's Settlement is in New 
York City. At first the labors of the Settle- 
ment were confined to nursing the poor and un- 
fortunate who otherwise would be neglected. 
Now it has several small houses in various 
parts of the city in w^hich nurses and other 
residents live, and from which radiate light 
and hope. New York City has several Uni- 
versity Settlements, also, each of which is car- 
rying healing to the socially sick and discour- 
aged. 

Hull House is a Social Settlement, the great- 



Jane Addams 95 

est in America, and possibly in the world. It 
was founded in 1889, in one of the poorest 
districts of Chicago. It is surrounded largely 
by colonies of foreigners. Between Halstead 
street and the river live about ten thousand 
Italians. To the south on Twelfth street are 
many Germans, and the side streets are given 
over almost entirely to Polish and Russian 
Jews. South of these Jews is a Bohemian col- 
ony, so large that Chicago ranks as the third 
Bohemian city in the world. To the north- 
west are many Canadian French, and to the 
north are Irish and first-generation Americans. 
A rather lengthy quotation from ^'Twenty 
Years at Hull House," published in 19 10, is 
here given because of its vivid description of 
the environments of the Settlement: *'The 
streets in the vicinity of the Settlement," the 
author tells us, "are inexpressibly dirty, the 
number of schools inadequate, sanitary legis- 
lation unenforced, the street lighting bad, the 
paving miserable and altogether lacking in the 
alleys and smaller streets, and the stables foul 
beyond description. Hundreds of houses are 
unconnected with the street sewer. The older 
and richer inhabitants seem anxious to move 
away as rapidly as they can afford it. They 
make room for newly arrived immigrants who 



96 The Women of Illinois 

are densely ignorant of civic duties. This sub- 
stitution of the older inhabitants is accom- 
plished industrially also, in the south and east 
quarters of the ward. The Jews and Italians 
do the finishing for the great clothing manu- 
facturers, formerly done by Americans, Irish 
and Germans, who refused to submit to the 
extremely low prices to which the 'sweating' 
system has reduced their successors. As the 
design of the sweating system is the elimina- 
tion of rent from the manufacture of clothing, 
the 'outside work' is begxm after the clothing 
leaves the cutter. An unscrupulous contractor 
regards no basement as too dark, no stable loft 
too foul, no rear shanty too provisional, no 
tenement room too small for his work-room, as 
the conditions imply low rental. Hence these 
shops abound in the worst of the foreign dis- 
tricts where the sweater easily finds his cheap 
basement and his home finishers." This quo- 
tation shows that the location of the Settle- 
ment was a desirable one, considering its pur- 
pose. 

The Hull House Settlem.ent at present con- 
sists of a group of thirteen buildings with 
forty resident w^orkers among whom are law- 
yers, physicians, business men, newspaper 
men, teachers, scientists, artists and musicians. 



Jane Addams 97 

There is the main house for residents, a build- 
ing occupied by a Co-operative Club of work- 
ing girls, and a gymnasium building with 
baths. This building, with the exception of 
the one floor, is given over to a labor museum 
and various industrial activities, the most im- 
portant of which is Miss Starr's bookbindery. 
The underlying idea of the labor museum is 
that culture is an understanding of the long- 
established occupation and thoughts of men, 
of the arts with which they have solaced their 
toil. There are spinning and weaving carried 
on here, and they tend to bring the American- 
ized daughters intO' closer sympathy with their 
immigrant mothers when they see their beau- 
tiful handiwork. Pottery-making, wood-work- 
ings, metal-working, and cooking, especially, 
receive much attention. There is a small but 
beautiful theater, in which the different na- 
tionalities vie with each other in giving plays 
which treat of the history and literature of 
the home land. There is a large restaurant, 
men's club room, a whole building given over 
to the music-school and work with children, 
and a group of buildings with apartments and 
lodgings. 

The Sunday evening lectures, upon a great 
variety of subjects are free. In the auditorium 



98 The Women of Illinois 

there are several dances a week, and many 
large parties and meetings. In the Sunday af- 
ternoon concerts an effort is made to give the 
best music to the neighborhood. There are ad- 
vanced classes in French and German and in 
Dante, with secondary classes in a variety of 
subjects, including English, Geography, and 
Literature. A great number of art and tech- 
nical classes, including newspaper illustrations, 
drawing, painting, clay-modeling, carpentry 
and wood-carving, millinery, and dressmaking 
are carried on successfully. 

Among the clubs, the most important is the 
Hull House Women's Club, numbering be- 
tween three and four hundred members in good 
standing. The Hull House Men's Club is also 
an important organization, and so is the Dra- 
matic Association whose puq^ose is the produc- 
tion of plays by the amateur talent of the 
house. There are many other clubs for young 
people and children. Connected with the house 
is a kindergarten, nursery, visiting nurse and 
visiting kindergartner, the latter for sick or 
crippled children. An agent of the Juvenile 
Court, who works constantly among the de- 
pendent and delinquent children is in residence. 
A number of outside organizations, including 
the Chicago Arts and Crafts Society, the Ital- 



Jane Addams 



99 



ian orchestra, the Nineteenth Ward Improve- 
ment Association, and some others meet regu- 
larly at Hull House. A number of investiga- 
tions are carried on each year in connection 
with definite social reform movements, and 
many conferences on public questions are held. 
One of the principal organizations at Hull 
House during the first decade of its existence 
was the Social Science club. Owing to the great 
freedom with which the members of the club 
expressed their views, the Settlement soon be- 
came known as the center of radicalism. Many 
good citizens regarded it with distrust as they 
believed it to be disseminating anarchistic doc- 
trines — doctrines that were opposed to the sta- 
bility of government and religion, the two main 
pillars of society. But Hull House was be- 
tween two fires at times. For the radicals 
looked upon it as the friend of the capitalists 
and upon its teachings as simply a sop thrown 
to the reformers, whose interests it would de- 
sert when the capitalists brought pressure to 
bear upon it. Miss Addams resented these 
charges and declared that she would not be 
bullied by either side. Her sympathies at the 
time, however, were with the socialists, as she 
regarded them as making a gallant fight against 
great odds. But they repudiated similarity of 



100 The Women of Illinois 

social sympathy and purposes as tests, and in- 
sisted that fellowship depends on identity of 
creed, and to this she could not subscribe. For 
the residents at Hull House had discovered that 
while their first impact with city poverty allied 
them to groups given over to discussion of so- 
cial theories, their sober efforts to heal neigh- 
borhood ills allied them to general public move- 
ments which were without challenging creeds. 
Yet the residents, although often baffled by the 
radicalism within the Social Science Club and 
harassed by the criticism from outside, still con- 
tinued to believe that such discussion should be 
carried on. For if the Settlement sought its 
expression through social activity, it must learn 
the difference between mere social unrest and 
spiritual impulse. 

Miss Addams was a member of several arbi- 
tration committees in times of strikes. And 
the reaction of strikes upon the Settlement af- 
fords an interesting study in social psychology. 
For whether Hull House is in any way identi- 
fied with the strike or not, makes no difference. 
When "Labor" is in disgrace the Settlement is 
always regarded as belonging to it. In the 
public excitement following the Pullman strike 
Hull House lost many friends; later the team- 
sters' strike caused another such defection, al- 



Jane Addams 101 

though Miss Addams's connection with both 
strikes had been solely that of a duly appointed 
arbitrator. But this elect lady is a courageous 
soul, and these things moved her not. At least 
they did not change the attitude of the Settle- 
ment tOAvards social, philanthropic, or indus- 
trial questions. 

She was instrumental in obtaining free em- 
ployment bureaus under state control, as she 
found that unemployment was disheartening to 
the poor. 

Miss Addams was appointed by the mayor 
garbage inspector of her own ward (the 19th) 
with a salary of $1,000. This office was not a 
sinecure, not at least as she proposed to do the 
work. Indeed she united in her own person 
the duties of garbage inspector, sanitary com- 
missioner, and health officer. She found it no 
easy matter to persuade a group of Greeks that 
they must not slaughter sheep in the basement 
of their homes, or Italian women that they 
must not sort over, in courts swarming with 
children, rags which they collected from the 
city dumps, or to hinder immigrant bakers from 
baking bread for their neighbors in unspeak- 
ably filthy places under the pavement. 

Miss Addams is in the prime of life, and 
judging by what she has already done, we are 



102 The Women of Illinois 

justified in expecting still greater things from 
her pen. At present she is furnishing a series 
of valuable articles for McClure's Magazine. 

She was a member of the Chicago School 
Board when that body was passing through 
stormy waters; and this paper will close with 
her tribute to the public schools : ''The public 
schools in the immigrant colonies," she de- 
clares, ''deserve all the praise as Americanizing 
agencies which can be bestowed upon them." 



CHAPTER SEVEN 

MRS. UDA BROWN MCMURRY 

T IDA A. BROWN is a native of the state 
-'-' of New York, but came to Illinois at an 
early age. She began her work as a teacher 
at the age of sixteen and taught several years 
in rural and village schools. Feeling the need 
of better preparation she entered the Illinois 
State Normal University, from which she grad- 
uated with honor in 1874. 

While in attendance at the Normal Univer- 
sity she invited a number of young women of 
the school to meet in her room one Sunday for 
the purpose of holding a prayer meeting and 
song service. Six accepted the invitation. 
They enjoyed their little devotional meeting so 
well that they decided to meet every Sunday 
and invite others to meet with them. Thus was 
started on the twelfth day of November, 1872, 
what is believed to have been the first Students' 
Young Women's Christian Association in the 
world. And it may be worth while to notice, 
in passing, that like some other organizations 



104 The Women of Illinois 

which have done so much for humanity, it had 
its birth at a seat of learning. 

In view of what the organization has accom- 
pHshed and is accompHshing it is interesting to 
know and of historic importance to record the 
names of the consecrated young woman whose 
meeting on this occasion has resulted in so 
much good to the world. The little group con- 
sisted of : 

Lida A. Brown 

Ida E. Brown 

Emma Stewart 

Jennie Leonard 

Hopkins 

Mrs. Hattie Lawson. 

Miss Leonard and Mrs. Lawson were not 
students but were very much interested in the 
welfare of the young women of the school. 

It is but just to state that the Y.W.C.A. 
is indebted more for its birth and growth 
in its early years to Lida A. Brown (now 
Mrs. Lida Brown McMurry) than to any other 
person. By her quiet, pleasing manners, she 
persuaded others to attend the meetings and 
enroll in the ranks. She sympathized with them 
in their troubles, cheered them in those hours of 
despondency and homesickness which come to 
many young women away from home for the 



Mrs. Lida Brown McMurry 105 

first time, and she so "mothered" them that 
absence from their own mothers was not so 
hard to bear as it otherwise would have been. 

The true christian graces that enabled 
Mrs. McMurry to accomplish so much in build- 
ing up the Y.W.C.A., have won her marked 
success in her life work. She is today one of 
the leading trainers of primary teachers. And 
this exalted position she owes fully as much to 
her sunny, sympathetic disposition as she does 
to her scholarship, although that is very cred- 
itable. She is the author of several books on 
primary teaching, which teachers all over the 
country find very helpful in their work. 

The little company who met on that Novem- 
ber afternoon, 1872, soon found their place of 
meeting too small to hold all who wished to 
attend, so they moved to the parlors of the 
Congregational church, and when that build- 
ing burned down, they moved to the Methodist 
church. 

The need of a more compact organization 
w^as felt, and so a constitution was made, and 
adopted January 19, 1873. '^^^^ ^^st officers 
elected under this constitution were : Ida E. 
Brown, president; Ida Witbeck, vice-president; 
Emma V. Stewart, secretary; and Lida A. 
Brown, treasurer. 



106 The Women of Illinois 

x\t the time of this election, the society was 
called the Young Ladies' Christian Associa- 
tion, and not until September, 1881, was the 
name changed to its present form, although its 
purpose was always the same. 

The motto of the association is found in the 
gospel by Saint John, 10:10: ''I am come that 
they might have life, and that they might have 
it more abundantly." This seeking for a fuller, 
richer life was the impelling force in those early 
days, and is still. The young women were very 
earnest in their work and the association grew 
rapidly. But it is in better shape now to carry 
out the purpose of its existence than it was 
before; as it employs a graduate secretary, a 
very able and devoted young woman, who gives 
all her time to the work. 

The present student Y.W.C.A. at Normal 
covers a much broader scope in its organization 
than the association had at first planned. It is 
divided into seven committees, namely, the Fi- 
nance, Membership, Social, Inter-collegiate, 
Bible, Mission, and Devotional committees. 
The chairmen of these committees together 
with the president and secretary of the as- 
sociation comprise the cabinet which meets 
regularly once a week. At these meetings the 
best methods for improving the society or the 



Mrs. Lida Brown McMurry 107 

work of any of the committees are discussed. 
Nothing is undertaken by the society which has 
not been carefuUy discussed and approved of 
in cabinet meeting. The test for the proposed 
enterprise is, "Will it give the students more 
abundant christian life." 

At the beginning of each year the finance 
committee makes out a budget which estimates 
the receipts from probable gifts, dues, special 
sales; also the probable expenses of the year. 
The expenditures of all the committees is gov- 
erned by this budget. If any committee spends 
more than was planned, its members make up 
the deficiency by special sales. Forty percent 
of the money taken in each year goes to the 
state and national organizations. They use 
this money for missions and current expenses. 
Thus the money sent by the student associations 
is used partly for extending student state and 
national associations and partly for general ex- 
penses such as office expenses of the national 
and state associations. A separate fund is 
raised each year to send delegates to the Ge- 
neva conference. The work of the following 
year is influenced greatly by the enthusiasm 
aroused at these meetings. For this reason the 
association sends as large a delegation as pos- 
sible each year. 



108 The Women of Illinois 

The aim of the membership committee, of 
which the vice-president is chainiian, is to wel- 
come all girls in the school into the association, 
and get them, if possible, to become active 
workers. Membership dues for the year are 
one dollar each. At present there are 185 mem- 
bers enrolled, all of whom are active in some 
department of the work. 

The chairmen of the bible and mission com- 
mittees organize classes for study. Some of 
these classes are taught by members of the fac- 
ulty and some by students who have been in 
such classes before. 

The devotional committee arranges the regu- 
lar weekly meetings in detail. It is the pur- 
pose to make these meetings profitable and in- 
teresting. Twice a term the Y.W.C.A. and 
Y.M.C.A. unite in devotional services at which 
some member of the faculty presides. The 
association gladly and earnestly co-operates 
with the churches in their work. 

To raise the social standard of the school is 
the main purpose of the social committee. It 
plans to give a large party, uniting with the 
young men's association, at least once a term. 
Smaller parties given by the young women 
alone are arranged for once a month. In these 
social gatherings, as well as in other phases of 



Mrs. Lida Brown McMurry 109 

the association work, anything which might 
detract from the christian spirit is guarded 
against. 

It may be interesting to note how the student 
Y.W.C.A. movement has grown since 1872. 
According to the report of 191 1, there are 
thirty-five organizations in Ilhnois. Student 
associations are organized in forty-three states 
of the Union, there being in all six hundred 
sixty-seven with a membership of 54,369. Stu- 
dent Y.W.C.A. 's are organized also in the lead- 
ing countries of Europe. 

''Behold, how great a matter a little fire 
kindleth !" — James 3 15. 



CHAPTER EIGHT 

MRS. IvETlTIA GREEN STEVENSON 

T ETITIA BARBOUR GREEN, daughter 
-■— ' of the Reverend Lewis Warner Green, 
D.D., and Mary Ann Peachy Fry, was born in 
Alleghany City amidst the beautiful scenery of 
Western Pennsylvania. She can trace her an- 
cestry, on the father's side, to Colonel John 
Washington, who with his brother Lawrence, 
appeared in Virginia, in 1658. John became 
very prominent in the affairs of the colony, 
both as a military man and as a member of the 
House of Burgesses. That he stood high in 
the esteem of his neighbors is also shown by 
their giving his name to the parish in which 
he dwelt. On his death, his son Lawrence 
reigned in his stead and became the father of 
John, Augustine, and Mildred, by his wife Mil- 
dred Warner. From this Mildred Warner 
Washington, Mrs. Stevenson can trace her de- 
scent directly. Augustine, the second son, mar- 
ried, for his second wife, Mary Ball, by whom 
he had three sons and a daughter; the eldest of 



112 The Women of Illinois 

these children was the illustrious George Wash- 
ington. 

While Mrs. Stevenson's maternal ancestors 
were not quite so famous as the paternal, yet 
they were not without distinction. She can 
trace her descent from Colonel Joshua Fry, an 
English gentleman and an Oxford graduate, 
who came to Virginia from England, and be- 
came Professor in William and Mary College, 
He was colonel of a Virginia regiment and 
led it against Fort Duquesne in 1755, but died 
on the march. After his death the regiment 
was commanded by George Washington, Col- 
onel Fry's Lieutenant Colonel. 

It will thus be seen that the subject of our 
sketch came from a fighting and patriotic stock, 
and that it was natural that she should join 
the Daughters of the American Revolution as 
soon as it became possible for her to do so. 

Doctor Green moved from Pennsylvania to 
Kentucky in 1855. I^^ this state, at and near 
Lexington, Miss Green received most of her 
education, although at the breaking out of the 
Civil War, she was attending Miss Haynes's 
school in New York City. 

The family residence at this time was in 
Danville, Kentucky, where the father was 
president of Center College. Danville was on 



Mrs. Letitia Green Stevenson 113 

the border line between the conflicting forces. 
And although he was an ardent Union man, his 
heart turned with fatherly solicitude towards 
his students, who were as children to him, and 
many of whom were from the South and joined 
the Southern army. 

The guerilla warfare which was carried on 
in Kentucky, as well as in the other border 
states, placed the family at the mercy of the 
constantly changing bands of marauders. 
While the possession of the town by Federal 
and Confederate troops in turn made conditions 
very unpleasant and inconvenient for both 
Union and Southern people. At no time, how- 
ever, were the Greens greatly intimidated or 
harmed. For in the armies on both sides were 
some of their nearest of kin and dearest of 
friends, under whose considerate protection 
they dwelt in safety. 

As stated above Miss Green was attending 
school in New York City at the opening of the 
war. On her return home she found the col- 
lege, as well as every other public building, 
converted into barracks or hospitals. And in 
the wake of the dreadful war soon followed 
desolation, sickness and death. She can never 
forget those terrible days, and is thankful to 
an over-ruling providence for a re-united coun- 



114 The Women of Illinois 

try, and that tlie ties of kinship and friendship 
are the stronger, perhaps, for having been so 
rudely sundered for a time. 

Miss Green came to Illinois in 1864, and in 
1866, was married to Adlai E. Stevenson, a 
rising young lawyer of Metamora, Woodford 
county, and who since then has acquired na- 
tional fame, by serving two terms in Congress, 
four years as Assistant Postmaster General, 
and four years as Vice-President. 

In 1868, the Stevensons removed to Bloom- 
ington, which has since been their home. But 
because of Mr. Stevenson's official life in 
Washington, that city became the family resi- 
dence for several years. 

The social position of the Vice-President and 
his family is an enviable one, since it is wholly 
independent, and disconnected from all others. 
The Vice-President is not a member of the 
President's cabinet, hence his wife is not oMci- 
ally associated with the ladies of the cabinet, 
although the most cordial relations usually ex- 
ist between them. Mrs. Stevenson's pleasing 
personality, her gracious manner and cultivated 
taste soon made her a favorite with the Presi- 
dent's official family, and led to the forming of 
friendships which are highly prized and whose 
m<emory is sacredly cherished. 



Mrs. Letitia Green Stevenson 115 

The wife of the Vice-President is required 
by her position to make but one call, and that 
upon the mistress of the White House, who is 
not expected to return calls. And it was im- 
possible for Mrs. Stevenson to return all calls, 
her receptions often numbering eight hundred 
or a thousand callers. She took pleasure, how- 
ever, in returning the calls of the wives of the 
Justices of the Supreme Court, the wives of the 
Senators, and in acknowledging all dinner and 
luncheon invitations by a personal call. 

The wife of the Vice-President takes prece- 
dence when the first lady of the land is not 
present ; and at all functions in the absence of 
the President's w^ife, she leaves first, and her 
leaving is a signal that it is time for the fes- 
tivities to end. At state dinners she is always 
the guest of honor, is escorted to the dining 
room by the President and is seated at his right. 
Every courtesy and attention are accorded her 
and her family because of her official position, 
emphasized in this instance by the recognized 
worth of the recipient. 

Mrs. Stevenson's life in Washington was 
full of charming experiences, all the more 
charming, no doubt, because she was prepared 
to appreciate them. Every shade and descrip- 
tion of entertainment and pleasure w^ere open 



116 The Women of Illinois 

to her with but httle annoyance from any 
source. Perhaps the principal annoyance arose 
from regret that the government does not pro- 
vide official residence for the Vice-President 
and members of the cabinet as other govern- 
ments do for their corresponding officials. 
Money spent in providing such homes, it is be- 
lieved, would be money well spent, as it would 
make the officials feel they were appreciated 
and so render them more efficient. 

Added honors bring increased responsibili- 
ties. Mrs. Stevenson was elected President 
General of the National Society of the Daugh- 
ters of the American Revolution, for the first 
time, on February 22^ 1893? to succeed Mrs. 
Benjamin Harrison, first President General of 
the organization, who died in Washington dur- 
ing the closing months of her husband's term as 
President. She was re-elected President Gen- 
eral in February, 1894, for the years 1894-95, 
and for 1896-97, and again for 1897-98. The 
office of Honorary President General was cre- 
ated in her honor and conferred upon her, but 
she resigned the compHmentary title upon be- 
ing elected President General for the third 
time; it was conferred upon her again, how- 
ever, in 1898. 

The objects of the National Society of the 



Mrs. Letitia Green Stevenson 117 

Daughters of the American Revolution, as set 
forth in Article II of the Society's Constitu- 
tion, are : 

1. ''To perpetuate the memory of the spirit 
of the men and women who achieved American 
Independence, by the acquisition and protection 
of historical spots, and the erection of monu- 
ments; by the encouragement of historical re- 
search in relation to the Revolution and the 
publication of results; by the preservation of 
documents and relics, and of the records of the 
individual services of Revolutionary Soldiers 
and patriots, and by the promotion of celebra- 
tions of all patriotic anniversaries. 

2. "To carry out the injunction of Washing- 
ton in his farewell address to the American 
people, 'to promote as an object of primary im- 
portance, institutions for the general diffusion 
of knowledge,' thus developing an enlightened 
public opinion, and affording to young and old 
such advantages as shall develop in them the 
largest capacity for performing the duties of 
American citizens. 

3. "To cherish, maintain, and extend the in- 
stitution of American freedom, to foster true 
patriotism and love of country, and to aid in 
securing for mankind all the blessings of lib- 
erty." 



118 The Women of Illinois 

Eligibility. ''Any woman may be eligible for 
membership who is of the age of eighteen 
years, and who is descended from a man or 
woman who with unfailing loyalty, rendered 
material aid to the cause of Independence; 
from a recognized patriot, a soldier or sailor 
or civil officer, in one of the several colonies 
or states; provided that the applicant be ac- 
ceptable to the Society." — Constitution, Art. 
Ill, Sec. I. 

The business of the National Society is con- 
ducted through committees appointed by the 
Continental Congress or by the President Gen- 
eral upon the authority of the Continental Con- 
gress or of the National Board of Manage- 
ment. ''The Continental Congress is composed 
of all the active officers of the National So- 
ciety; the State Regent, or in her absence the 
State Vice-Regent, from each state, territory, 
and the District of Columbia ; and the Regents 
and Delegates of each organized Chapter in 
the United States, and in foreign countries." 

The most important committee, from the 
first, has been the Memorial Continental Hall 
Committee. Mrs. Harrison was an enthusiastic 
worker in behalf of a house or home for the 
Daughters, and appointed the first Continental 
Hall committee. The next and most important 



Mrs. Letitia Green Stevenson ^^ 

step was to endeavor to awaken a national in- 
terest in the new and untried patriotic work. 
This was difficult at first, as the objects of the 
organization were not fully understood, and 
much doubt was felt as to the necessity of such 
work, and of its ultimate success. 

The work of organizing Chapters with State 
and Chapter Regents was carried on with 
vigor, and Chapters have been established in 
every state and territory of the Union and in 
many foreign countries. By systematic and 
unceasing efforts, at the close of Mrs. Steven- 
son's administration as President General, in 
1898, the organization had increased from 
2,760, in 1893, to 23,097. It was in those early 
formative days and through efforts of the ac- 
tive officers of the organization, encouraged 
and directed by Mrs. Stevenson, that the foun- 
dation was laid deep and enduring, upon which 
the splendid superstructure now rests. 

Besides the Continental Memorial Hall 
which is now completed and is worth, with the 
lot on which it stands, about $500,000, the 
Daughters have shown their zeal and ability in 
other ways. They contributed about three- 
fourths of its cost towards the erecting of a 
statue at Fredericksburg, Virginia, in honor 
of Mary Washington. On February 26, 1894, 



120 The Women of Illinois 

they presented a life-size portrait of Mrs. Ben- 
jamin Harrison to the White House. They 
also presented a statue of Washington to the 
city of Paris. This statue was given a promi- 
nent place by the city authorities and was un- 
veiled during the Paris exposition of 1900, with 
due acknowledgment to the donors. 

On the 15th day of May, 1903, a bill appro- 
priating $10,000 for the purchase of the Fort 
Massac reservation was approved by the Gov- 
ernor of Illinois. The legislature was led to 
make this appropriation largely through the 
efforts of Mrs. Matthew T. Scott, President 
General of the Daughters, who read a very able 
and convincing paper before the Illinois State 
Historical Society, urging the purchase, and 
joined with other high officers of the organiza- 
tion in a petition to the legislature to the same 
effect. And later through the same influence 
the state was induced to purchase Stan^ed 
Rock, and about 190 acres of the surrounding 
land to be used forever by the people of the 
state as a pleasure ground. 

Neither her social duties as the wife of the 
Vice-President, nor her of^cial duties as Presi- 
dent General of the great and patriotic organi- 
zation whose activities she directed for so many 
years could lead Mrs. Stevenson to neglect her 



Mrs. Letitia Green Stevenson 121 

home duties. She is a strong beHever in the 
value of the home to the individual, to the 
family and to the nation. A good home she 
regards as the chief corner-stone of the nation, 
and a woman's first and highest duty is to es- 
tablish such a home. 

Home should be a place of great freedom, 
in order to be worthy of the sacred name. Here 
the children should be made to feel that they 
may do as they please, providing they do not 
please to do wrong — of which there is little 
danger. It is only by allowing this liberty that 
the parents can learn the dispositions of their 
children, something which many parents do not 
learn until it is too late. 

Home should be a place of mirth and merri- 
m.ent. Blessed is the boy who feels that home 
is a ^'jolly" place. How the memory of it will 
cling to him in after years, and prove a talis- 
man against evil, long after the *'jolly" father 
and mother have gone to their reward. 

Mrs. Stevenson is also a believer in early 
marriages, provided the affection is founded 
upon mutual respect; and provided, further, 
that ma,n is able to insure the necessary com- 
forts to safeguard the health of his wife, and 
to maintain a home with all that the name im- 
plies. But the establishing of a home should 



122 The Women of Illinois 

not mean that the woman shall forever cook, 
sweep, dam stockings, sew on buttons, and 
play general lady's maid to her entire family. 
All of this may be necessary under certain 
financial conditions. But even then by a fair 
division of labor much exhausting fatigue may 
be avoided, and decided benefit to all con- 
cerned result. 

Recreation and change of scene for the 
mother occasionally are essential to the happi- 
ness of the whole family. That the mother's 
health and strength should be most carefully 
conserved is imperative, as they are by far the 
greatest asset in the domestic economy. The 
welfare of the household depends in a large 
measure upon her ability to guide her family 
and domestic affairs with prudence and fore- 
thought, — a feat she cannot accomplish if 
handicapped by illness. This may be superin- 
duced by overtaxed nerves in the laudable 
effort to meet the exacting duties of the present 
day strenuous life. And there can be no judi- 
cious authority, order, or happiness in the home 
where the mother is a physical or nervous 
wreck. 

If it can be so arranged, and it can usually, 
the wife should be a sharer in her husband's 
honors, as well as be his comfort and solace in 



Mrs. Letitia Green Stevenson 1'23 

times of trial and stress. She should also be 
acquainted with his business enterprises, as 
success or failure means as much to her as it 
does to him — perhaps more. And it does not 
safeguard the home for either husband or wife 
to have a set of friends or acquaintances to 
whom the other is a stranger. Separate inter- 
ests and separate trends of thought are sure to 
follow, and this is destructive of the purposes 
of the home. 



M 



CHAPTER NINE 

MARIE EUGENIA VON EI.SNER* 

ARIE EUGENIA VON ELSNER was 
born in Bloomington, Illinois, June i, 
1856, and died in the same city July 7, 1883. 
Her mother, Amanda Dimmitt, also born in 
Bloomington, was the daughter of William 
Dimmitt, one of the early pioneers in Illinois, 
and after whom one of the additions to Bloom- 
ington is named. 

Marie's father, Hugo von Eisner, w^as born 
near Goerletz, not far from Dresden, Germany. 
It is claimed by some people that he was of 
noble birth; this, however, is not certainly 
known, as he was very reticent and never talked 
about his ancestry, unless it was in his own 
family. What is known is that he was highly 
educated and was a civil engineer. He prob- 
ably practiced that profession before leaving 

*Miss von Eisner was very fortunate in her biog- 
rapher. Judge John M. Scott has told the story of her 
life and work in a most sympathetic and graceful man- 
ner. This brief sketch is indebted to his pleasing vol- 
ume for its main facts. 



126 The Women of Illinois 

his native land, but if so he could not have 
practiced it very long, as he came to America 
when quite a young* man. After coming to 
Illinois he assisted as engineer, or in some 
other capacity, in the construction of a rail- 
road from Elgin to Freeport. 

In 1854, he came to Bloomington to make 
for himself a new home, and here he lived un- 
til his death, which occurred while his gifted 
daughter was in Paris, and before she had 
achieved her triumphant success. 

Von Eisner "did not possess much executive 
ability and still less capacity for money mak- 
ing in any business." But he was an excellent 
musician, well versed in the science of music, 
and an enthusiast in teaching the divine art. 
It was well that it was so, for his ability in 
this direction was about the only source of in- 
come that he had. 

Miss von Eisner's musical education began 
when she was a mere child. Her father was 
her teacher in those early days, and continued 
to be until she sailed for Europe in 1874, to 
further her education. He had unbounded 
faith in the ability of his child, and was confi- 
dent that she would succeed. So he became 
an enthusiast in the matter of her musical ed- 
ucation and he left nothing undone to accom- 



Marie Engenia von Eisner 127 

plish this end, as far as his limited means 
would permit. 

"It was a practice with her father when Ma- 
rie was yet a mere child to have her sing in 
parlors where friends had met to hear her, and 
in larger private gatherings, and she was al- 
ways heard with the greatest delight." What 
may be termed her first public appearance was 
at Springfield, Illinois, in 1861, before a regi- 
ment of soldiers in training to take the field. 
She was then five years of age, and her singing 
of " 'Tis the Last Rose of Summer" was so 
touching that it brought tears to the eyes of 
many of those strong, hardy men whose 
thoughts had been fixed on grim war for some 
time previous. They showed their apprecia- 
tion of the child and her wonderful singing by 
making her a beautiful present, appropriately 
inscribed. 

When about fourteen years of age, her 
father, and perhaps her mother, who was 
equally interested with her husband in the de- 
velopment of their daughter's musical powers, 
took her to Chicago, Cleveland, and New 
York. In each of these cities her singing was 
highly praised, especially in Cleveland, where 
there was a large German population. She re- 



128 The Women of Illinois 

ceived money enough from her singing in those 
cities to defray the expenses of the trip. 

The Germans are a music-loving race, and 
are very appreciative of the manifestation of 
genius along the line of their beloved art. Dr. 
Underner, who was at the head of a conserva- 
tory of music in Cleveland, took great interest 
in Marie, and generously undertook to aid in 
perfecting her musical education. 

The time came when it was deemed neces- 
sary to send her to Europe for better instruc- 
tion than she could get in her native land. And 
besides, she needed instruction in the languages 
and in literature, so necessary on the operatic 
stage, for which she was evidently intended. 
But where could the money for defraying her 
expenses be obtained ? Her parents were com- 
paratively fHDor, she had no wealthy relatives, 
and the case seemed almost hopeless. "It was 
at first proposed to raise the necessary funds 
by subscription. But the necessity for resort- 
ing to that expedient was soon obviated. In 
that crisis a very generous friend, Mr. A. B. 
Hough, of Cleveland — a very ardent admirer 
of the talents of Marie — came forward, and 
with a liberality seldom met with anywhere, 
offered to and did advance the entire amount 
necessary to defray all her expenses — a sum of 



Marie Eugenia von Eisner 129 

no inconsiderable proportions. No one en- 
quired or seemed to know whether Mr. Hough 
exacted any promise from Marie or her friends 
to re-pay the money advanced by him on her 
account. It is not probable one so generous 
as Mr. Hough would have taken anything from 
the earnings of this poor child of genius had 
she offered to repay him. Such noble acts are 
not done for money considerations." 

On the 25th of October, 1874, Marie sailed 
for Europe to complete her musical education. 
It must have been a lonesome voyage for this 
girl of eighteen years. There was no one on 
the ship that she knew, except Dr. Underner, 
who always took a deep interest in her welfare. 
This gentleman succeeded in interesting- Mr. 
Mapleson, the great English iinpressario, in 
his young friend, and the interest continued 
through life. Dr. Underner, also presented 
her to Sir Julius Benedict, a musician of some 
note, who, on hearing her sing, pronounced her 
voice "a beautiful gift of nature," and advised 
her to go to Paris and place herself under the 
instruction of a celebrated teacher; this she did. 

In May, 1876, she appeared at Drury Lane 
theater, in London, under the management of 
Mr. Mapleson. And her performance, in Rob- 
ert le Diable, was not satisfactory to her man- 



130 The Women of Illinois 

ag-er or to herself ; so she returned to Paris for 
further instruction. 

She studied for a year, or more, under her 
former teacher, who could not have taken more 
interest in her pupil had she been her own 
daughter. And the pupil studied with more 
diligence than ever, if possible, detennined to 
achieve success; not so much, perhaps, on her 
own account, as on account of her father and 
mother and her family, her girlhood friends in 
that little western city, and her beloved teacher. 

When it was arranged that she was to ap- 
pear in the Theatre des Italiens, in Paris, in 
the opera Lucia di Lammermoor, she felt that 
success or failure, in her chosen profession, 
depended on her performance on that occa- 
sion. She and her teacher both felt that she 
was to pass through a terrible ordeal, as her 
performance would be watched by the most ac- 
complished musicians and the most merciless 
critics in the world. 

The feelings of the French towards the Ger- 
mans were very bitter at that time. The 
Franco-Prussian war was only a few years in 
the past, and France felt that it had been cruelly 
treated in the terms of peace which it had to 
accept. And so her solicitous friends advised 
her to appear under the stage name of "Litta,'' 



Marie Eugenia von Eisner 131 

that being the name of a noble Itahan family. 
Her success was so great, ''that the next morn- 
ing Count Litta called upon her and thanked 
her for honoring his family name by adopting 
it." Henceforth she was known to the musical 
world, and even to many of her old-time 
friends, as Mademoiselle Litta, or simply Litta. 
The effect of her rendering of the opera on 
this, her first appearance before a Paris audi- 
ence, as described by the Paris correspondent 
of a New York journal is here given for the 
gratification of her friends : "That night will 
remain in the memory of everyone who was 
present ; no greater triumph than that of M'lle 
Litta was ever known even within the time 
honored walls of the Italian Theatre of Paris. 
Captious connoisseurs started with amazement 
as the purest soprano voice heard for many 
years rang through the building; callous ex- 
quisites w^ere surprised into an emotion by the 
warm life-like impersonation of Bellini's ill- 
fated heroine. From act to act the success of 
the debutante increased ; the connoisseurs hung 
upon her every note and even the least scien- 
tific of the hearers felt a thrill which followed 
the exquisite modulations of that glorious 
voice. The enthusiasm became general and 
swelled into an ovation such as has not been 



132 The Women of Illinois 

known since the days of Grisi. There was the 
genuine ring* and not the counterfeit sound of 
a hired demonstration. Cynical critics and 
listless swells joined in the manifestations of 
delight; ladies clapped until they burst their 
gloves, and threw their own bouquets upon the 
stage. Lifted above her doubts and fears by 
the enthusiastic reception and inspired by her 
theme, Litta surpassed herself and surprised 
even her friends. For perfect vocalization, 
earnest feeling, and dramatic power, her ren- 
dering of the mad scene, that test of a canta- 
trice, was a truly wonderous performance. 
Even the would-be w4tty critics who had at 
•first endeavored to raise a laugh at her large 
mouth and her square shoulders forgot to sneer 
and lost sight of her physical defects and sat 
'absorbed and hushed throughout the thrilling 
scene. When the curtain fell the entire orches- 
tra rose to their feet and the grand songstress 
who had held that audience under the chann 
of her talents was recalled with a whirlwind 
of applause. Such a scene of enthusiasm is 
rare at the Italiens whose polished critical 
habitues are seldom raised to such heights of 
interest and delight. The smiling, enraptured 
girl received an ovation she will certainly re- 
member to her dying day, and at the close of 



Marie Eugenia von Eisner 133 

that performance - found herself crowned a 
queen of song. Her triumph was complete, al- 
most unparalleled. * * * The young American 
girl, unknown and almost friendless the day 
before, had risen in that evening to the utmost 
heights of musical fame." 

One other quotation bearing on this first 
night's performance, and this from the pen of 
a woman. Miss Kate Field: ''It would seem 
an exaggeration almost to state with what en- 
thusiasm M'lle Litta was hailed when she fin- 
ally revealed her talent. Even the habitues of 
the Italian opera in its halcyon days cannot re- 
member such scenes of excitement. And there 
was the true ring about the ovation M'Ue 
raised, none of the hired applause with the elite 
smiling coldly at the venal demonstration ; none 
of the bouquets bought beforehand and thrown 
upon the stage by dummies. No; it was all 
genuine admiration. Ladies stood up in their 
boxes and burst their gloves clapping; the en- 
tire orchestra declared her the young artist 
with one voice. Elegantes threw upon the 
stage the bouquets they had brought with them 
and held through the evening. Time after 
time thundering calls brought the young Amer- 
ican lady before the curtain, blushing with 
heartfelt delight. The enthusiasm increased as 



134 The Women of Illinois 

M'lle Litta proceeded with her fine impersona- 
tion and the suinmuni was after the scene of 
Lucia's madness which is famous as one of the 
most severe tests, not only for the singer, but 
for the dramatic artist. M'lle Litta went 
through the crushing ordeal with inspired en- 
ergy and this was her grand triumph. A very 
whirlwind of applause burst forth after this 
hackneyed scene which the new star rendered 
really harrowing by her life-like action. This 
final ovation set the seal upon her reputation 
and stamped her as one of the first artists of 
modern times." 

Litta remained at the Italiens for some 
months. And her great triumph on her first 
appearance was not dimmed by later perform- 
ances. Night after night music-loving Paris 
flocked to hear her in her different roles. And 
in no instance did she fail to satisfy the high 
expectation of her audience. 

After the close of the season in Paris and 
some time spent in Vienna, she returned to 
America under the management of Max Stra- 
kosch, a distinguished manager in opera and 
concert music. She came directly to Bloom- 
ington where her mother and family still re- 
sided. Shortly after her return a reception 
was tendered her by Captain and Mrs. Burn- 



Marie Eugenia von Eisner 1^^ 

hani — the latter her cousin — to which many of 
her friends were invited. It was a happy gath- 
ering, although Litta, no doubt, silently 
mourned the absence of the father who de- 
voted himself to her musical education, and 
who never wavered in his belief in her success. 
In order that the friends and acquaintances 
of her girlhood days might hear her, she gave 
a concert in Durley Hall. The hall was 
crowded and she sang divinely, as she felt she 
had the sympathy of her entire audience. Per- 
haps she never enjoyed any of the many ova- 
tions which she received both in the Old World 
and the New as much as she did that which she 
received on this occasion. 

At the Burnham reception it was suggested 
to a close friend of hers that it would be a 
graceful thing to do, to present Litta with a 
testimonial of their high regard for her. The 
friend intimated that Litta would appreciate 
any offering made to her mother more than 
she would if made to herself. In consequence, 
her admirers presented the mother with a neat 
cottage; and here Litta herself made her home 
when not engaged in traveling. 

Litta began her American engagements in 
opera, in Chicago, in 1878. She selected for 
her first appearance, Lucia di Lammermoor. 



136 The Women of Illinois 

This was her favorite, and the selection with 
which she always commenced her engagements 
in the different cities in which she appeared. 
Large delegations went from Bloomington and 
Cleveland to hear her. She had many warm 
friends in Cleveland, and everyone in Bloom- 
ington was her friend, and all believed that 
their presence would be a source of strength to 
her, and it was undoubtedly. She was fond of 
Bloomington and of its people, and she gave 
expression to this fondness in a beautiful letter 
to a friend here, in which she wrote : ''Bloom- 
ington is my home and I am proud of it, and 
the many kindnesses I have received from its 
people have filled my heart with gratitude, and 
I say frankly that there is no place like my old 
home, home, sw^eet home." 

Whatever fears and doubts Litta may have 
had as she appeared before the brilliant audi- 
ence that came to greet her and sit in judg- 
ment upon her performance, they all disap- 
peared as she stepped in front of the distin- 
guished assembly. She won a splendid tri- 
umph, and none manifested more joy in her 
success than did her friendly rivals in song, 
Miss Cary and Miss Kellogg, who graced the 
occasion with their presence. 

The papers of the metropolis of the West 



Marie Eugenia von Eisner 137 

were unanimous in their high praise of both 
her acting* and singing. The same was true of 
the papers of New York, in fact of the papers 
of every city in which she appeared, which led 
her to say, "I seem to have a good friend in 
every newspaper office." And so it proved in 
Boston, in w^iich she appeared next. One of 
the leading journals had this to say: "The re- 
ception given to the debutante was most hearty 
and the lady has no cause to complain of her 
audience upon this occasion, as every number 
of her role was generously applauded, recalls 
frequent, and beautiful floral tributes were pre- 
sented to her. The flute song in the mad scene 
displayed Litta's voice at the best and her ren- 
dering of this part aroused the enthusiasm of 
the audience and a grand demonstration." 

The Strakosch Opera Company appeared in 
all the great cities from Halifax to Galveston, 
and everywhere Litta received unstinted praise. 
The cities of the South vied in their cordiality 
with those of the North, and far-off San Fran- 
cisco outdid them all in the attention it be- 
stowed upon her. In addition to unlimited 
praise, ''her admirers presented her two elegant 
souvenirs, which she greatly appreciated. One 
of them was a heavy and beautifully wrought 



138 The Women of Illinois 

chain of Etniscan gold from which hung a 
locket thickly crusted with diamonds." 

After two seasons in opera, Litta decided to 
give it up, and engage in concert work. She 
had been so successful in opera that people 
wondered at her decision. It is probable that 
the change was due to the desire to make a lit- 
tle more money. The expenses of an operatic 
troupe were very heavy. It is true that much 
money was taken in, but it is also true that 
much was paid out, and that the net receipts 
were comparatively light. This may have been 
the reason, and it may not ; it matters but little 
either way; the important thing is that tlie 
change was made. 

Litta's concert singing was fully as success- 
ful as her work in opera. She sang in all the 
leading cities and was greeted everywhere with 
great enthusiasm. 

One more tribute to her worth by one who 
heard her sing at Saratoga : *'Of Marie Litta 
we can speak only in terms of highest praise. 
Her voice is a clear and beautiful soprano, of 
exquisite quality, that even her pianissimo 
passages were distinctly heard throughout the 
large hall, and her tones have that indescribable 
pathetic power which is vouchsafed to but few 
singers in a generation. She is a genuine art- 



Marie Eugenia von Eisner 139 

ist with a natural genius for moving her audi- 
tors by the tones of her voice and uses that 
marvelous organ with the most consummate 
grace and skill. Of the two numbers assigned 
to her on the program, the 'Carnival of Ven- 
ice/ by Sir Julius Benedict, which abounds in 
ornament and fioritiira, was rendered with a 
power and grace which brought forth round 
after round of applause. She responded to the 
demands of the audience by singing a stanza 
of 'Home Sweet Home,' in a manner which 
showed how genius could adorn even the most 
familiar air, and was greeted with the same 
universal plaudits." 

After her return to America, Litta's career 
was brilliant but of short duration — about four 
years. That short period was one of great 
physical exertion and of intense mental strain. 
She was ambitious to accomplish a great work, 
and to enable her to do that she undertook 
more than either her physical or mental 
strength would endure with impunity. Her 
friends, finally, came to see that her health was 
failing, and it is to be regretted that they did 
not compel her to rest for a time. The public, 
with whom she was a favorite, was uninten- 
tionally unjust to her. The following quota- 
tion from her biographer might well be taken 



140 The Women of Illinois 

to heart by music-loving audiences everywhere : 
''The demand made upon her by encores to 
sing" more — in many instances double the num- 
bers she had agreed to give by her program, 
was sometimes oppressive in a very great de- 
gree. Her generous nature would not allow 
her to deny her patrons anything w^hether just 
or unjust. The consequence was she felt con- 
strained to sing many times when she really did 
not have strength to go through with the ad- 
vertised program. This constant demand made 
upon her by the public w^herever she went, soon 
began to tell on her strength. 

"* * * The demand made by the public upon 
famous singers for so much more than they 
contracted to give or the public has paid for, 
is unjust in the extreme. No lawyer is ex- 
pected to try two cases for his client for the 
same fee he agreed to tiy one. A lecturer, 
when he has agreed to give one lecture, is not 
expected to give another lecture, or even the 
same one without additional compensation. 
Encores are all right enough, but the singer 
ought to be allowed the privilege to sing or not. 
Demands for a repetition of every number is 
in ill taste." 

In the spring of 1883, Litta suffered a se- 
vere attack, at Galesburg, from which she 



Marie Eugenia von Eisner 141 

never fully recovered. She rallied somewhat, 
however, and resumed her work. At Des- 
Moines, Iowa, she was again prostrated by 
sickness, and was urged by her friends to rest 
for awhile. But no, she kept on, as she did 
not want her manager to lose money by her 
failure to keep her contract with him. The last 
concert given by her company in which she 
took part was at Escanaba, Michigan. From 
there she was taken to her home in Blooming- 
ton, where she fell asleep, and awaked to sing 
in the celestial choir. 

Loving hands laid her to rest in the Bloom- 
ington cemetery, and above her grave was 
erected a granite monument by the people of 
the city that she loved so well. 

The following tribute by her biographer 
must close this brief sketch : 'Xitta had her- 
self been poor during her whole life and that 
caused her to have the intensest s}nTipathy with 
the lowly. The brightest gem in her crown 
W'ill be her nobleness of soul. It is that which 
will remain when all else connected with her 
fame shall have perished and is forgotten. She 
was gentle, she was kind, and she loved all that 
is good and all that is good loved her. She 
lived to do good unto others. It was her 
crowning happiness to divide everything she 



142 The Women of Illinois 

had with others, giving always the largest 
share and the best to them. Nothing gave her 
so much pleasure as to do good to others. In 
that work akin to the purest ministrations in 
charity she literally sacrified her life — a life 
that contained all that is best in human nature. 
She did not have to learn to be good or to do 
good. It was inwrought in her nature." 



CHAPTER TEN 

THE WOMEN OE TODAY 

'TpHE women of today are sometimes com- 
-■- pared with the women of early times, and 
frequently to the disadvantage of the former. 
This is not just to either. The conditions are 
so different that it is well-nigh impossible to 
institute a just comparison. Were the woman 
of the early days placed in the midst of the 
environments which surround her sister of to- 
day, she would feel lost. And it is feared 
that she would receive severe criticism from 
some of those who sing her praises at present. 
The pioneer woman was fitted for the condi- 
tions under which she lived. She played her 
part in the development of Illinois, and she 
played it well. She "trained her children in 
the nurture and admonition of the Lord," as 
far as her ability would permit, and she 
smoothed down the rough comers in the char- 
acter of her husband, and when occasion de- 
m.anded it she could use the ax or rifle as 
effectively as he could ; all honor to her. And 
long may the people of Illinois see the heroic 



144 The Women of Illinois 

figure of the pioneer woman as she stands re- 
vealed in the early history of the state. Times 
have changed, however, and existing conditions 
make other and different demands upon wo- 
man. The woman of today meets those de- 
mands as courageously and efficiently as did 
her sister of pioneer days those that con- 
fronted her. 

The writer is frequently asked foolish ques- 
tions, and one of the most foolish is, ''Do you 
think w^oman is the equal of man?" Being a 
truthful man he has to answer, "It depends on 
the man and on the woman. Some w^omen are 
superior to some men, and it is possible that 
some men are superior to some women, but ta- 
ken in the aggregate, woman is superior in all 
that pertains to the higher life." Then comes 
the etymological argument: "Does not hus- 
band," the querist retorts, "mean househond, 
the one who holds the house, or home, to- 
gether? If so, then, he must be the superior 
one." "Perhaps 'husband' means that and per- 
haps it does not. Even if it does, does not the 
term housekeeper indicate that the wife plays 
as important a part in the domestic economy as 
does the husband? The truth is that without 
the presence of woman there can be no home. 
There can be a place where men assemble to 



The Women of Today 145 

eat and sleep, but it is not a home, and the men 
feel that it is not; and in her absence they be- 
come slovenly in appearance and boorish in 
manners." This truthful statement is not what 
the questioner expected, or hoped to get, so he 
departs with a low opinion of the writer's 
wisdom. 

Women constitute a great majority of the 
school teachers of the state of Illinois. There 
is no intention here of discussing the relative 
merits of men and women as teachers; no 
doubt each sex has advantages over the other 
in certain departments of teaching. All that is 
meant here is the bare statement of a fact 
which is known to all who have given the sub- 
ject serious thought. And that the women do 
their work well is evidenced by the fact that 
the highest salary paid to any teacher in the 
state is paid to a woman. 

When we consider the influence of the 
teacher in the community in which she labors, 
and upon the fortunes of the state through the 
children with whom she labors, we recognize 
the above statement as an important one. As 
there is no class of people whose influence upon 
the children is so great as that of the teachers, 
the parents always excepted — or nearly always. 
It is reasonable that this should be so, as they 



146 The Women of Illinois 

are with them six hours a day for at least six 
months in the year. If the teacher is qualified 
intellectually and morally to have charge of 
children, it is difficult to estimate the import- 
ance of her work to the state. 

There is a class of teachers w^ho receive no 
salary, in the form of dollars and cents from 
any source whatever, and yet their service to 
the state is inestimable. For the lack of a bet- 
ter name they may be termed "supplementary" 
teachers ; and to their ranks belong all mothers. 

These supplementary teachers are very nec- 
essary, as, unfortunately, there are some per- 
sons employed to teach who are not teachers 
at all. They have no true conception of the 
office of a teacher; they are interrogation 
marks whose sole function is to ask questions. 
Question-asking is well enough and when 
properly done is an important phase of teach- 
ing, but not the most important; that is done 
by the mother, w^ho when her day's work is 
done sits down by her children and leads them 
to see for themselves the logical solution of the 
problem, the proper interpretation of the para- 
graph in the reading lesson, and the true rela- 
tion of the different parts of the sentence to 
each other. This she docs with infinite pa- 



The Women of Today 147 

tience, and her patience has its reward in the 
love and adoration of her children. 

The woman of the present time does much 
valuable work along educational lines by or- 
ganizing and sustaining literary and musical 
clubs. These clubs permit women to enter the 
realms whose portals were closed against them 
in their younger days. And although the 
glimpses which some get in those Elysian fields 
may be limited to small areas, and somewhat 
shadowy, yet they get enough to promote 
thought and to lighten the burden of their 
daily toil ; and whatever makes the tasks of the 
toiler less galling is a benefaction to the race. 

In no field of activity, perhaps, does the wo- 
man, of the twentieth century appear to such 
advantage as in the godlike one of charity. It 
is true that all through the christian centuries 
woman has been a synonym for charity. Good- 
ness and mercy have followed in her footsteps, 
and suffering has been mitigated by her pres- 
ence. But in these later years she has learned 
to make her efforts more effective by system- 
atic organization, and has learned to discrim- 
inate between the worthy and the unworthy. 

In every city and town of any considerable 
size, there is organized a Board of Charities 
which receives gifts from the charitably dis- 



148 The Women of Illinois 

posed and dispenses them to the deserving 
poor. These boards seek to find employment 
for those who are able to work, as it is be- 
lieved that by this means the self-respect of the 
beneficiaries is preserved; and self-respect is a 
valuable asset in the struggle of life. Those 
who are not able to work are aided as fully as 
the means of the organization will permit. And 
while there are a few men connected with these 
organizations, it will be admitted by all who 
have studied the matter that the women are the 
moving spirits, the main prop and support of 
the boards, and that without them the institu- 
tions would languish, if not die. 

Closely related to her work in dispensing 
charity to the poor are her merciful ministra- 
tions as nurse in hospitals, and elsewhere. The 
desire to alleviate suffering of every kind, to 
wipe away the tears from the eyes of the grief- 
stricken, and to cheer the despondent is pre- 
eminently an endowment of woman. The 
hospital is where she appears to the best ad- 
vantage, as that is where there is most phys- 
ical pain, and her mission is to remove pain. 
It is a question with many, "Who saves the 
most lives, the nurse or the physicians?'' 
Quien sahef 

The pioneer woman was probably just as 



The Women of Today 149 

sympathetic, just as eager to relieve suffering, 
and just as willing to sacrifice herself for the 
good of others as is her modern sister. She 
did what she could under the then existing 
conditions. But science has made great pro- 
gress in the last hundred years, and in no re- 
spect greater, perhaps, than in its warfare with 
disease; so that the nurse of today is able to 
use means that were unknown to the nurse of 
pioneer days, and is, therefore, more efficient. 
The woman of the present is a firm believer 
in the duty of the people to make beautiful 
their surroundings, as far as possible. She 
has studied the influence of environment upon 
character and has come to the conclusion that 
it is fully as great as that of heredity, if not 
greater. She may not believe with Zoroaster 
that the ugly is always bad, and the beautiful 
always good. But she does believe that beauty 
without has a strong tendency to promote 
beauty within. Therefore she is an ardent ad- 
vocate of improvement leagues in cities and 
towns. She does not believe that the only 
times people should clean up their premises is 
when they hear that the cholera is making rapid 
strides from the East; but that they should 
keep them clean at all times. Furthermore, 
that shrubbery and flowers should gladden the 



150 The Women of Illinois 

hearts of the passers-by as well as those of the 
occupants. The result of her efforts along 
this line may be seen in many towns and vil- 
lages. And many rural communities follow 
the example of their urban neighbors. Indeed 
no small part of her work is the awakening of 
such communities to the possibilities within 
their reach. She points out how the school- 
house and the country church may be made 
centers for disseminating the gospel of beauty 
to the farm homes in the vicinity, thus enab- 
ling the wife and mother, whose life is fre- 
quently one of drudgery, to catch glimpses of 
brighter things, the thoughts of which may 
bring warmth to her heart and a song to her 
lips. 

Woman is also a promoter of civic righteous- 
ness. It is true she cannot vote, but her influ- 
ence over those who can is very great. The 
home is the chief corner stone of the nation, 
and the woman is mistress of the home. There 
her influence is paramount, especially over her 
sons, and there are but few husbands who will 
vote contrary to the expressed wishes of their 
wives. And the wives are studying civic af- 
fairs more than ever before. Some periodicals 
find their way even into the most isolated 
homes. Many of those periodicals are ably 



The Women of Today 151 

edited by women who point out to their sisters 
what they can do to purify civic affairs, and 
what it is their duty to do. And that the sis- 
ters are following" their advice is evident from 
the great changes that are taking place in the 
social and political life of the people. 

It is unfortunately true that more or less 
corruption still exists; but it is also true that 
it is becoming less and less from year to year. 
And whenever it is discovered it is not con- 
doned, even by fairly good people, as in the 
past, but is punished both legally and socially. 
It should always be remembered that woman is 
the arbiter of social status and that some men 
dread being sent to "Coventry" more than they 
do being sent to the penitentiary; hence the 
great power w^hich the woman wields in the 
community ; and it must truthfully be said that 
she is using it for the betterment of the people. 

The woman of today is interesting herself 
not only in literary, social, and political affairs, 
she is also giving much attention to the laws of 
health. She is satisfied that there are certain 
conditions and diseases of her sex which she 
can understand better than man can, and for 
whose removal she is better qualified. So to 
prepare herself the better to l^e an angel of 
healing to her afflicted sisters she has gradu- 



152 The Women of Illinois 

ated in medicine from some of the best univer- 
sities in the land, and has sometimes studied in 
the schools and hospitals of the Old World, 
hoping thereby to be the better equipped to 
contend with the messenger of death. 

Woman has always been a zealous supporter 
of religion and of the church. This was true 
of the pioneer woman; it is true of the woman 
of today. She has always been more religious 
than man because she is possessed of the at- 
tributes of God in a larger measure. She is 
more like God in her tenderness, her sympathy, 
and in her desire to do good to those who need 
it most. She believes that religion is for the 
purpose of making man more god-like in pur- 
ity, compassion, and helpfulness to others, 
hence she favors religion. And the church be- 
ing the main instrument in urging people to 
be religious she supports it by her presence at 
all of its meetings and by her generous finan- 
cial aid. 

She realizes that religion is the most import- 
ant thing in the world. It has been said that 
love is the greatest thing. But love is the es- 
sence of religion — love to God and love to 
man. Without this divine attribute religion 
becomes a hollow mockery ; with it, it becomes 
a regenerating force leading man to be born 



The Women of Today 1^3 

again in the image of God. This is woman's 
religion. For this she prays, for this she 
works, and for this she is wilHng to suffer un- 
kind criticism, which is often bestowed upon 
her by the thoughtless and foolish. The pity 
of it. 



JUL W 1913 



